Hill Scores Double Pole At Rockingham
Fortec Motorsport’s Josh Hill once again proved his qualifying prowess by taking pole position for both race’s in the Protyre Formula Renault Finals Series at Rockingham.
Hill, who also took a clean sweep of pole positions at Snetterton last weekend, qualified three tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Oliver Rowland on the damp Northamptonshire circuit.
Rowland was the early pace setter before a red flag shuffled the on track order. When the session resumed, Hill was first out of the pit lane and he duly took advantage of the clear track setting a time of 1.29.735secs. Rowland, however, never managed to set a lap in clear air and it cost the championship leader as he could not improve his time of 1.30.093secs.
Behind, yesterday’s pace setter Daniil Kvyat managed to hold off a late charge from Thomas Jager to claim third, while Atech Reid GP’s Dan Wells qualified fifth.
Fortec duo Ed Jones and Jake Dennis followed, ahead of Manor Competiton’s Nick McBride, Fortec’s Felix Serralles and Dan De Zille, as just under 1.5 seconds covered the top ten cars.
Just outside the top ten, last weekend’s podium finisher Josh Webster qualified eleventh just four thousands of a second behind De Zille in tenth.
The session started at a frantic pace with all 20 cars out on track in the first two minutes. Rowland set an early bench mark of 1.30.9 and looked untouchable before a spin at Tarzan for Hans Villemi brought out the red flag. Immediately, Hill and Wells headed to the end of the pit lane, as the pack scrambled behind to get track position. Unfortunately for Rowland, he never found space and had to settle for second.
Race two, which is based on each drivers second fastest times in the session, will also see Josh Hill head the grid, after he set four timed laps faster than his nearest competitor Rowland.
Jake Dennis is the biggest loser as he slips from seventh to twelfth, while Josh Webster moves up to seventh from eleventh.
Race one takes place at 11.45.
Photo: Jakob Ebrey
Mike Trusler
