Connor Mills raced to his fourth Scholarship win of the season in a drama filled Round 12 of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain at a sunny Oulton Park (8 June).
In complete contrast to yesterday’s two meetings, Round 12 was held under dry, warm conditions, which played into the hands of Mills.
Excelling in yesterday’s one and only dry event, Mills could have advanced up the leaderboard had the session not been prematurely cut short due to an approaching sound curfew.
Lining-up tenth for the weekend’s third and final race, Mills bolted off the line as the 13-car field sprinted down to Old Hall Corner for the first time and was looking to make a pass up the inside of Scholarship rival Ashley Sutton, but was unable to make a move stick and slotted back into position.
As the grid completed their opening tours of the 2.69mile International Circuit, Mills had climbed two places to position his Mygale eighth.
Determined to climb yet more places on the leader board, the Upminster-domiciled driver was quick to latch onto the gearbox of James Abbott as the pair closed the gap to Falcon Motorsport’s Ricky Collard.
Mills’s Scholarship rival was forced to drive the widest car on the circuit, but relinquished his position on lap five to promote Mills into the second spot on the Scholarship podium.
As the drivers began to settle into the groove, the Ford Fiesta ST Safety Car made an appearance to bunch the field back up and potentially set-up a heated battle at the restart.
The Safety Car circulated the circuit only once and on the restart Mills was quick to pounce on Abbott, but was unable to make a pass up the inside at Old Hall Corner.
As the laps tumbled, a surprise pit-stop for Ashley Sutton handed Mills the lead of the Scholarship class, a position he would hold up until the chequered flag.
His Scholarship victory was the fourth of the season and ninth podium overall. The 17-year old continues to stand atop of the standings, holding a narrow lead over Collard and Sutton.
“That was a really, really good race,” said a delighted Mills. “We were a bit further back from where we wanted, but I kept telling myself to keep pushing as something ahead could happen, and it did when Ashley (Sutton) had a problem and gifted me the Scholarship lead. All the hard work the team and I have done over the weekend has paid off.”
Meridian Racing Team Manager, Matt Davies, said: “Obviously we are very happy for Connor Mills to finish first in the Scholarship class, which keeps him top of the standings, but on the other hand disappointed to have issues with Connor Jupp’s car. We are still unsure what the problem is, but we’re working hard to solve it.
“Overall, it’s been a mixed weekend. We’ve had a fair share of high-and-low results, but we’ve got some work to do before Croft and we’ll bounce back there.”
For more information on Meridian Racing, please visit the official www.meridianmotorsport.com website, ‘like’ the team’s Facebook page or follow@MeridianMSport on Twitter and Instagram.