WRDA member Hwyel Lloyd from Corwen, won the 2007 BARC Formula Renault Championship, after winning the crucial final race at Oulton Park on Saturday 29^th September. Going into the weekend Hwyel needed to score at least 5 points more than the current points leader Dean Stoneman, to win the championship held last year by his friend and near neighbour Richard Singleton.

Driving his Corwen Forestry sponsored 2.0 litre Renault engined car, Hwyel picked up his first bonus point and scored another psychological blow, by taking pole position in practice, whilst Stoneman could only manage 4^th fastest time. With 15 points for a win, 12 for 2nd, 10 for 3rd, and his lead now cut to 4 points, Stoneman would have to win the race to take the title, but the prospect was looking ever more unlikely, as at the start of the race, as the lights changed, Hwyel initially powered into the lead.

However the race was stopped after 2 laps to remove some crashed cars, and although Hwyels second start was less clean, he emerged in the lead at the end of the first lap, with Keiran Clark 2^nd Rossi 3^rd and Stoneman out of contention in 4^th place.

What followed was one of Lloyds greatest races as he pounded the track in search of the extra point for fastest lap. "As soon as I got into the lead I knew I had to go for it and it was like 12 qualifying laps! I didn’t have time to get worried about things as I could see from my pit board that Rossi was trying hard too and we were trading fastest laps!" Eventually Clark spun out of 2^nd under pressure from Rossi which allowed Dean Stoneman to move into a distant 3^rd place. As the race entered its final stages Rossi began to close in  and was only 7/10ths of a second behind at the end, taking fastest lap on the last lap, as Hwyel crossed the line to take his 6^th win of the season and the championship in emphatic style. "I knew I had to keep it steady on the last lap, you don’t get any points if you don’t finish, but it was brilliant to win here especially with all my family and friends here!"

Hwyels father Harry said afterwards "We prepared well. We knew what we had to do. Hwyel drove a very calculating race, he had to dig very, very deep. We went out to win and he did the business. Not only that but he has won each of his 6 races in style. As for the future we will take a little time to consider what we do next year, but we are going to do the final race in Formula Renault UK championship at Thruxton in October as a taster."

Hwyel himself summed up "I did like to thank everybody who has supported me, its great to keep the championship in Wales. I’m very happy"

Happy Families 1 & Even more happy people - Hwyels' friends and family help him celebrate

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