Seb scores a podium at Donington
to end the weekend on a high note!
Report & pics by Rob Allender - background Marion Allender
Matt & Seb discuss practice plans
(photo by Rob Allender)
Teenage Welsh race ace & WRDA member,
Seb Morris got back onto the podium to finish off the weekend at
Donington Park, having once again suffered the highs & lows of
motor racing. Initially Morris was in a good position after the
qualifying sessions on Saturday morning, which were close &
tense, see-saw affairs, with Morris heading the timing lists
several times, trading places with Scott Malvern, Josh Webster,
and David Wagner, his most direct rivals. At the end of the
first session Webster, Malvern and Wagner were 1st, 2nd
& 3rd with Morris 4th and Keiron Vernon 5th,
but all 5 were covered by only a few 10ths of
a second! After some frantic work by the Fortec team
mechanics, Seb headed out for the 2nd qualifying
session that would set the grid for both races 2 & 3 on Sunday.
In an even closer session Seb was 3rd behind Wagner &
Malvern but this time by only 7/100ths of a second! His 2nd
fastest time of the session was even better and good enough to
put him back on the front row for the first time in 6 races. Seb
commented after qualifing “I am not worried, it would have been
nice to get a pole but it was very close, and you can do a lot
from where we are!”
Hear Seb discuss
the practice sessions
Race
1 Saturday 18th
August 2012
Round 10 of the
2012 Protyre
Formula Renault BARC Championship
However
in the first race on Saturday afternoon at the start, off the
staggered grid, Webster & Malvern both made a good start, but
David Wagner got bogged down which allowed Seb Morris briefly
into 3rd place. However Keiron Vernon had a good
start and demoted Morris to 4th.
With Webster & Malvern stretching away at the front, it
was plain that Morris had to make a move as he was under threat
from the 5th place car of Chris Middlehurst. On lap 8
Morris had Vernon in his sights and was right in his slipstream,
and made his move to overtake going into Redgate, the classic
first corner at Donnington. Firstly it seemed that Sebs bright
orange car had completed the move, but Vernon failed to concede,
or allow Morris racing room, and the two cars touched, pitching
Morris into the gravel trap and out of the race!
However Vernon
himself did not profit as he dropped back to finish in 6th
place. Morris afterwards had no doubt as to where the blame lay
“He drove into me!”
Indeed although in these circumstances, the other driver will
have another view point, the bright Orange paint-scheme on
Morris’ car can hardly be more conspicuous! However another non
score saw Morris drop down to joint 5th with
Kieran Vernon
in the overnight points standings, with
Macaulay Walsh
now 3rd and David Wagner 4th but only 5
points covered the 4 drivers,.
Vernon v Morris in the battle of Redgate -
photo by Phil Laughton Photography
Race
2 Sunday 19th
August 2012
Round 11 of the
2012 Protyre
Formula Renault BARC Championship
With 2 races
on Sunday, and all but one of the other drivers in the Fortec
squad also having had a poor race on Saturday, it was time for
some light relief to lighten the mood and Seb and the others
enjoyed a fun session with a Segway 2-wheeled electric buggy! It
seemed to work in Morris’ case, because when the lights went
green, he made an excellent start and emerged from Redgate in 2nd
place. However one of the backmarkers had stalled and was stuck
on the grid. With the car stuck in the middle of the track and
unmoveable, the organisers stopped the race with the red flag,
to allow the car to be moved away! On the second restart, things
didn’t go Sebs way and he was slower off the line and found
himself in 5th place. Although he held 5th
to the end to score some valuable points, this appeared to give
him little satisfaction at the time, but he had in fact moved up
to 4th in points standings.
It was time
for his family, dad Phillip and mum Victoria, and his support
team, mentor Andy Meyrick and driver coach
Matt Shawyer,
to help focus
Sebs’ mind on the final race of the day.
Race 2
Saturday 18th August 2012
Round 12 of
the 2012 Protyre Formula
Renault BARC Championship
Starting from
2nd on the grid beside pole position man, David
Wagner, Seb was 2nd initially but gave way to title
chasing Scott Malvern, but also lost a place to
Macaulay Walsh, before
re-passing him to take to final podium spot, to the great
relief of all, also setting the races fastest lap in process to
maximize his points score and move him back up to 4th
in the points standings! Seb explained “I am really
happy, returning to the podium this weekend, and setting the fastest lap, is
really satisfying. Roll on the next race at Silverstone”
Race 3 Podium (l-r) 2nd Scott Malvern, 1st David Wagner, 3rd
Seb Morris (photo (c) Jakob Ebrey)
The final 2 races
of the season are at Silverstone on 6/7 October
2012 Protyre Formula Renault BARC
Championship (after Rd 12)
1st Scott Malvern 324 points. 2nd
Josh Webster 301 pts. 3rd David Wagner 223 pts.
4th Seb Morris 208 pts. 5th Macaulay
Walsh 202 pts. 6th
Keiron Vernon 193 pts.
Andy & Seb chat in between qualifying sessions - note WRDA
sticker on Sebs car ! (photo
by Rob Allender)
Report by Rob Allender background by Marion Allender
Website:
http://www.sebmorris.com
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/sebmorrisracing
Twitter: @sebmorris31
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