Twin SEAT Cupra Triumph for Lightning Lawson
05 May 2008
The charge of rookie SEAT Cupra Championship
racer Robert Lawson (Bardon/JHR) shows no signs of relenting as two
convincing race wins at Donington Park proved. Having qualified in
pole position for both rounds he made sure he capitalised, crossing
the line in each case with seconds to spare between him and his nearest
competitor.
From a maximum of 44 points over the weekend, Lawson took
41 including the extra point for the fastest lap in Round 5 that also
smashed the existing SEAT Cupra Championship lap record. That now makes
four wins from six, with one 2nd place and one 4th to give him a commanding
lead in the Championship. Martin Byford (AB Glass/Z Speed Racing) also
ran well, two late charges giving him a brace of podium finishes and
with a fastest lap bonus point in Round 6 he now sits just ahead of
fellow challenger Carl Breeze (Blue Chip/Welch Motorsport) in the Championship
standings.
Breeze is proving to be one of the quickest drivers off the
line this year and it proved the case again in Round 5 as he looked
to turn his front row start into a race lead, heading side by side
with Lawson into the first turn. But Lawson was wise to it and kept
pushing to head into Craner Curves still in possession of 1st place,
Breeze keeping 2nd and Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR) in 3rd
. The trio started creating distance between the rest of the pack too
as Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing) battled to defend his position
from Byford. Adam, clearly not happy with his car, was unable to hold
Byford off for long, and while the blue AB Glass/Z Speed Racing car
darted ahead looking to make up ground on the front runners, Adam was
left exposed to the attentions of both Daniel Welch (Marriott/Welch
Motorsport) and Dan Rowbottom (DRM M-sport). Again, Adam's race
pace looked lacking and both Welch and Rowbottom passed the struggling
Scot going on to secure 5th and 6th places respectively. Lawson meanwhile
continued untested at the front going on to secure the win. Herron
however found Byford closing in on him and with one lap to go was the
subject of a fine overtaking manoeuvre through Redgate, Byford going
wide then cutting sharply on the inside and carrying the momentum through
to 3rd place. As he screamed onto the final straight it looked like
he may be able to upset Breeze too, but the Kings Lynn driver had enough
left to cross the line in 2nd , his third podium finish this year.
Byford
clearly enjoys leaving the drama until late, waiting until the last
lap of Round 6 too before making the decisive move. Lawson had once
again pulled well ahead of the rest and was crossing the line in convincing
style for his second win of the day, while the drama unfurled behind
him. Breeze had been pushing for a way past Herron in 2ndplace for
much of the race and with the last corner to go he made his move. But
confusion reigned as Breeze went across the grass and Herron dropped
his concentration to let the predatory Byford blitz past the battling
pair in the dying seconds. Moments later Byford crossed the line in
2nd place, while Breeze could do nothing about Herron taking his first
podium of the season with a 3rd . Elsewhere Adam and Freddy Nordström's
(Plumbertraining.com/Advent Motorsport) nightmare weekend continued
with neither finishing the race, but both Welch and Rowbottom will
take heart from their performances. Welch had started from the back
due to a technical infringement in qualifying but dodged through the
pack into an impressive 5th position, Rowbottom performing a similar
act and coming from 11th to 6th.
The mix of fortunes at Donington
was large, but there's no doubting the talent that courses throughout
the field and with the popular Thruxton circuit next on the calendar
it's gearing up to be a riveting Championship. Lawson is the
man to beat now, but with other drivers knowing they can really perform
at the fast flowing Hampshire circuit should everything be in place
to allow them, it may be a very different story in Rounds 7 and 8.
Robert
Lawson: "The most important thing for me here was to get the
wins. The team's done a great job and to do this here with so
many supporters from Bardon Aggregates here to watch was great. I couldn't
be happier. There's no secret, I'm just doing the best
I can and hopefully I'm still improving as this is still only
my third season racing. There's any one from about five drivers
who can still challenge for the title and their all great drivers having
won championships before, so it's not going to be easy."
Andrew
Herron: "We came to this weekend after testing well at Thruxton,
but had a problem during qualifying. If it wasn't for that we
should have had pole. During the races I had a bit of a problem with
my tyres too but getting on the podium is great. When I was in the
Clios I got one podium finish and it kick started from there."
Martin
Byford: "We thought it was going to rain for the second race… but
we got it wrong! I was struggling with the car but just managed to
keep on their [Herron and Breeze] tailcoats. I could see Andrew's
tyres going off again and when the were side to side down the back
straight I could see what could happen so just stuck my snout in and
it paid off. I got a point for fastest lap too, so that's one
more point for me and one less for Lawson."
Jonathan Adam: "It
was a really bad weekend for us. It wasn't great in testing on
Thursday and if anything it's got worse over the weekend. I was
really struggling, but we're going to strip the car right down
and find out what the problem is now."
Carl Breeze: "I was
in second place until I got turned around on that last corner. I ended
up fourth and it's lucky we didn't actually have a similar
incident earlier. On a positive note, it's another thirty points
and I think I'm one point ahead of Byford or thereabouts. We're
also going to my favourite track next."
Daniel Rowbottom: "In
the second race it was really enjoyable for the first few laps, but
like the first race I had a problem with grip shortly after that. If
we can sort that out then I'm pretty sure we can get on the podium.
At the moment though all we can really do is pick up points as other
drivers drop them."
Daniel Welch: "I'm actually a
little disappointed. I ran out of brakes on lap three and only had
rear brakes to stop. I'm thinking if I'd had them I could
have caught the others up. It's not too bad, but you can't
really go home happy with two fifth places!"
SEAT
See series calendar for SEAT
Cupra Championship 2008
Related Story 07.04.2008 - New SEAT Cupra Drivers Rocking the Championship
