Fewtrell heads up strong results for Carlin with podium at Donington

Max Fewtrell took his second Ford MSA Formula podium in as many race weekends today, taking third place at a wet and cold Donington Circuit Park.  The 16-year-old racer started and finished third, in a tricky race which provided slippery conditions for the young drivers.   Fewtrell headed a Carlin train with team mate James Pull just behind in fourth, Devlin DeFrancesco fifth and Petru Florescu sixth, despite starting from the very back of the field.

Snow, hail and rain all contributed to difficult track conditions for the first race of the weekend at Donington today, with all drivers make a late switch to wet Hankook tyres as conditions deteriorated.  As the highest Carlin starter, Fewtrell had the clearest view ahead, starting from third on the grid with Alex Quinn and Luis Leeds ahead.

As the lights went out Fewtrell made a good start, briefly challenging Leeds for second into Redgate before slotting back into third.  Behind him team mate DeFrancesco had passed Pull and was up to fourth with Pull fifth while Florescu was making quick progress after a difficult qualifying session and had already moved from 18th on the grid to 14th.

The order continued to change on lap two, as Pull took back a position from DeFrancesco, while Florescu had made up a handful more places to ninth.  The Carlin young guns continued to set impressive pace; Fewtrell was putting plenty of pressure on Leeds for second, while DeFrancesco and Pull were setting purple sectors in their pursuit of podium positions.

Fewtrell set a fastest lap on lap five, which stood until Pull went faster still on lap seven.  Florescu meanwhile was still making progress, up to a remarkable sixth position on lap eight.  At the front the battle was also hotting up.  Fewtrell had the gap to Leeds down to 0.223 and tried another move at Redgate but once again couldn’t quite make the move safely.

Just behind them, Pull was bettering his own efforts, setting a new fastest lap of the race on lap 10 with a time of 1.20.947 which would stand until the chequered flag.  The final few laps promised to deliver some close racing as Leeds closed on leader Quinn with Fewtrell just 0.191 seconds behind.  A red flag curtailed proceedings just over three minutes early however, leaving the standings as they were.

Speaking about his afternoon, Fewtrell said, “I think it was a great race.  I had good pace but it was just very difficult to overtake in the rain as I couldn’t see much behind Leeds and Quinn in front.  To make matters worse if you were on the wrong line was like being on ice!  I had two attacks at Leeds and just didn’t quite get him.   Aside from that, I’m happy to have taken another podium and solid points and I’m looking forward to my first race off pole tomorrow!”

Race two of the weekend will take place at 10.05 tomorrow and race three at 15.10 live on ITV4 tomorrow afternoon with Fewtrell starting from pole.