Fewtrell Earns Maiden Win and Championship Lead at Donington

Pushing to the max, Fewtrell earned a trio of podiums in the second round of the MSA Formula Championship. A stellar weekend, topped off by his maiden win, sees newcomer Max take a deserving lead ahead of Carlin team-mate Petru Florescu in the championship.

With a promising third place on the grid for the first race of the weekend, Max was the leader of the Carlin pack in a challenging qualifying session at the chilly Donington circuit. Whilst others struggled to pull the lap together, Max flew to set a 1:08.175 lining him up third behind Fortec’s Alex Quinn and Arden’s Luis Leeds. His consistency converted to a pole position for round six, putting him in good stead for the weekend ahead.

Race one followed a heavy hailstorm, resulting in tricky conditions for the duration. Rookie Alex Quinn dominated the race from pole, with second placed Luis Leeds unable to find a way past. With strong pace in the car, Max stormed from the start to try to challenge for the lead, but extremely slippery track brought chances to a minimum. Taking the final podium step brought a well-earned haul of points for the promising young driver.

“It’s a really good result. The pace was so strong. I was able to match the guys in front, it’s just really hard to overtake in those sorts of conditions. If you’re on the wrong line it’s like driving on ice and when you are behind someone the spray makes it difficult to see.”

The second race was an incident-filled thriller that saw both Carlin team-mates Pull and DeFrancesco fail to finish. From the start, pole sitter Fielding dominated the action-packed race, managing to peel away from the charging Carlins. With seven minutes left at the safety car restart, brought by an incident that ended DeFrancesco’s race, Florescu lost out to championship rival Pull. But Pull’s eventual retirement, gave the perfect opportunity for Max to take his second podium of the weekend, maximising his championship fight.

Starting on pole for the sixth round, Max gave a flawless performance, to take his maiden single-seater victory. Flying from the start, the young newcomer fought off more experienced drivers to show his raw talent and true racing potential. Keeping the chasing cars to a perfectly managed gap, he pulled out an expertly held lead from lights-to-flag. “I needed to get a good start and be consistent because I knew I had the pace to keep the gap.”

With championship leader Florescu unable to fight his way through from the back, the fantastic win for talented Max, secured his place as championship leader. In only his second weekend behind the wheel, he looks forward to how he can further his championship hopes: “Three podiums is brilliant, to finish the weekend off with a win is great. Fighting with a lot of second year drivers is obviously a challenge, but I’m learning every race and getting more confident with the car.”

The MSA Formula Championship roars back into action at Thruxton on 7th-8th May, where championship leader Max Fewtrell hopes to build on his pace and consistency achieved in the opening two rounds.