Fewtrell takes maiden victory in Ford MSA Formula

Carlin’s Max Fewtrell took his maiden victory in Ford MSA Formula this afternoon, in the final race of the weekend at Donington Park Circuit.  The 16-year-old racer led from lights to flag, putting in a faultless performance despite the constant present of Luis Leeds behind.   Team mate James Pull could take at least some solace after his race two retirement taking fourth place.  It was a tough race for Petru Florescu and Devlin DeFrancesco however, the duo finishing 13th and 17th respectively.

As the lights went out for the third and final time this weekend, Fewtrell made the perfect getaway, despite the added pressure of two green flag laps in the lead up to the start. The Carlin man led the field while behind him the was plenty of action as the drivers jostled for position.

DeFrancesco had one of the most significant moments of the race, being catapulted across the grass and gravel after just clipping a kerb at speed, and re-joining the track in the middle of the field.  Somehow all cars managed to avoid each other, with team mate Florescu in particular doing well to avoid the spinning number 1 car.

As the drivers crossed the line for the first time, Fewtrell was still leading, Pull had made up two places to fifth, Florescu was 15th while DeFrancesco had rejoined and was 17th.   Having being taken out of contention of a potential race win earlier in the day, Pull wasn’t content with fifth place however.  The British based driver put a stunning move on Sennan Fielding to take fourth place on lap two and set the fastest lap of the race on lap three.  Also showing he had plenty of pace at the front, Fewtrell bettered Pull’s effort just a lap later setting a fastest lap on lap four.

In contrast to Saturday’s wet race one, Florescu had his work cut out to make up many places in this afternoon’s dry race, with fewer overtaking opportunities around the challenging Donington track.  The Romanian did manage to pass Monger for 12th towards the end of the race, but was put back down the field due to a 5 second penalty on the timing screens having been deemed to have exceeded track limits.  DeFrancesco suffered a similar fate, with a 10 second penalty for track limits putting him in 17th place.

At the front, Fewtrell seemed to have the race under control and duly took his first victory of the season.  Pull just missed out on a podium finish and took fourth place.

Speaking about his win, Fewtrell said, “Its difficult to gain much advantage because everyone is close and in terms of pulling any gap in the points, the reverse grid certainly switches things up.  Qualifying is a huge thing in this championship though, it can really set the tone of your weekend. I’m really happy with how its gone here at Donington.  I started on pole, got my head down got a good start and got cracked on with it!  It feels good to take my first win.”

Fewtrell’s win puts the 16 year-old at the top of the championship standings after six rounds, with Florescu second, Pull fourth and DeFrancesco 11th.