2012 International & Single Seater News
 News of WRDA members who are competing in the International & Single Seater arenas

Morris on a roll at Rockingham

New - Seb audio interveiw Seb describes his weekend after winning race 2 to WRDA's Robert Allender

 

 

 

 

 WRDA member Seb Morris delivered a major physiological blow to his rivals by totally dominating the fourth and fifth rounds of the Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship at the Rockingham Speedway on the weekend. Starting with qualifying on Saturday Morris took pole position in both the qualifying sessions! This means the Wrexham teenager has set the fastest qualifying lap for each of the 5 races held so far this season and it must have caused his rivals a worrying night before the Sunday races! But as he explained there was an element of luck in the first session. “It was wet and I only got one lap in, as there were several red flags. So I could have been first or last, but Josh Webster, my main rival got caught out and is 16th! In the second session we did get 8 or 9 laps in but it’s nice to take pole again. However I am concerned with the first corner, especially as everyone in the race will start on new dry tyres. New ones come with a waxy coating, so if some of the others don’t warm their tyres up properly, they could arrive at the first corner with no grip! If someone arrives from 10th place, and cant stop, they could hit you. That would be out of your control. What I’ll be trying to do is get a good start, I don’t want to stall like I did at Snetterton. But on the first lap I’ll try to be chilled”. Commenting on Rockingham, Britains newest race circuit, Seb expressed his approval. “ It’s good, you have the fast American oval part, and then the infield which has several quick corners. I like it!”(photo Robert Allender)

Seb’s Orange car led the giant 28 car grid around to the start line for the first of the two 15 lap races on Sunday, and he got an excellent start to put himself out of reach of his pursuers, extending his lead by almost a second a lap. But after 5 laps it was all cancelled out by a safety car period to allow marshals to clear some debris from the track. Resuming after 8 laps, Morris simply carried on where he left off, and although Scott Malvern closed up late on, Morris was never headed. Later, after taking the winners laurels he explained “We went with high tyre pressures to give us good grip early on. After the safety car I was able to go quickly again. I had a mega first lap and pulled a good lead, but late on the tyres started to lose grip. Maybe they had overheated, and I had a few sideways moments which allowed Scott Malvern to close up. However I knew he would be in the dirty air behind me, so I only had to defend in 2 places. In the rest of the lap I was able to pull away. Apart from that it was a pretty prefect race. The car handled well” Even so Malvern was able scoop the 2 extra points on offer for the fastest lap, which meant that although Morris was able to lead the title race with 106 points; Malvern was only 6 points away, with 100 and former leader, Josh Webster now in 3rd with 97 pts.

For the second race of the day (round 5 of the championship) Morris was joined on the front row by Martin Cao whose car is also run by the highly experienced Fortec Team. However as the starting lights went out, Seb went straight into a lead he was never to loose. However Cao was swamped and Scott Malvern moved into 2nd place, but although he kept Morris in sight, he was never able to mount a challenge. Morris & Malvern (who won the Formula Ford Championship in 2011) broke away from the pack, with Morris always at least a second ahead, stretching it to 3.5 seconds by the end. To emphasize his total dominance over the rest of the 28 car field, Morris took the extra points for the fastest lap and is now 12 points ahead of Malvern with 140 points to his rivals 128. After celebrating with his team and his parents, Morris confirmed, “It was a perfect race for me, I got a good start and all my race laps were with a few 10ths of a second of each other” (photo Robert Allender)

In addition to his racing activities the 16 year old has also been studying hard for his GCSE exams and left the circuit to start revising for his forthcoming Biology exam.

Afterwards Andy Meyrick, the Welshman with the Le Mans pedigree, who acts as Morris’s mentor said “Seb is doing all that is asked of him. He is in a good place now as all the pressure will be on his rivals.” Certainly Morris looked impressive as he totally dominated a class field in a manner seldom seen, with perhaps only Meyrick himself in the F3 National Class in 2008 and Lampeters Tim Davies in 1983 being on the same level.

Davies himself was placed 3rd in the 1983 Western Mail/ BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year Awards, and the personable Morris is surely shaping up to be a contender for the end of year award.

The next 2 races in the 14 race 2012 Protyre Formula Renault series are at Thruxton on Sunday 17th June, and the bad news for his rivals is that Morris has declared the fast sweeps of the Hampshire circuit as one of his favourites.

Provisional 2012 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship Driver Standings (after Rd5): 1st Seb Morris, 140pts; 2nd Scott Malvern, 128pts; 3rd Josh Webster, 99pts; 4th Macaulay Walsh, 95pts; =5th David Wagner & James Fletcher, 86pts

 

Along with headline sponsor Protyre, Formula Renault BARC is supported by Michelin, The Lubricant Consultancy, Petronas Syntium and NGK Spark Plugs.

Points are scored 32 points for 1st place down to 1 point for 20th place. 2 additional points are awarded for the fastest lap of the race.

Report Robert Allender Background Marion Allender- photos  Robert Allender

Website: http://www.sebmorris.com

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Twitter: @sebmorris31