SV Racing’s James Dorlin achieved a sensational ‘Triple Crown’ – pole position and two race wins – in the Junior Saloon Car Championship (JSCC), while Sam Randon and Tommy Østgaard also had positive outings in the Michelin Clio Cup Series at Donington Park (31 May-1 June).
Barnsley-based Dorlin has already proven to be a worthy addition to SVR’s ‘stairway of talent’ having established himself as the dominant force in the opening four rounds of the 2014 JSCC season.
Having experienced technical gremlins last time out at Oulton Park, Dorlin tightened his stranglehold of the championship lead by locking out pole position with a lap of 1m29.126s and taking two more race wins at the historic Donington Park circuit on the Derbyshire/Leicestershire border.
The 15-year old has featured on the winners’ rostrum on all but one occasion this season and led every single lap of the weekend in the East Midlands to boost his rapidly-expanding trophy cabinet and extend his championship advantage over Ben Colburn to 21 points.
“It was the perfect weekend and I couldn’t have asked for more,” said an overwhelmed Dorlin. “To qualify on pole and follow that up with back-to-back, lights-to-flag victories is fantastic! I’ve now won five of eight races, which gives me a huge confidence boost, but it’s now a case of maintaining that championship lead.
“Ayrton Senna famously said, ‘when you’re out in front you become most vulnerable,’ and it’s a saying that I strongly believe. When you’re out front on your own it’s very easy to make mistakes and be picked off, so you’ve got to keep your head down and set consistent lap times to try and build the gap to the second-placed driver, which I did all weekend.”
Linking up with Danny Buxton and the leading SVR team for the first time, Nantwich’s Tom Stockton recorded an impressive fifth place result in Round 7 to aid his title bid.
The Cheshire racer ran as high as fourth and was in the thick of a battle with Charlie Kennedy for the final step on the podium, when an unforced error dropped him back into the grips of fifth-placed Ben Mills.
“The weekend went quite well,” said Stockton. “I qualified sixth for both races and took the finish in fifth place in the first race, which was good. In the second race I was able to get off the line well and move up to third, but I was hit from behind, which damaged my car and pushed me wide. Thankfully I was able to rejoin the race, but I lost a few places and finished sixth. It was slightly disappointing to have a potential podium finish taken away, but that’s racing.
Elsewhere in the Michelin Clio Cup Series, Tommy Østgaard and Sam Randon were quick to bed-in to the history-rich Donington Park track.
Despite having never raced at Donington prior to last weekend, Østgaard delivered a time of 1m19.523s to line-up tenth for the weekend’s opening race (Round 5), with Randon behind in 11th.
As the lights went out to mark the start of race one, Østgaard and Randon both used stunning launches to carve their way through the field and each climb three places on the opening lap.
Both drivers continued to lap the 1.96mile National circuit comfortably inside the top ten when, on the fourth tour, Østgaard made a minor mistake that dropped him to sixth and into the clutches of Team Pyro’s Ollie Pidgley.
Østgaard, aged 21, defended heavily from Pidgley, who was also under threat from eighth-placed Randon, but was then able to open up a sizeable gap over the brawling pair.
An enthralling battle for seventh between Pidgley and Randon raged on until a mechanical gremlin compromised the SVR’s contender’s performance, although a dogged and stubborn drive resulted in a well-kept tenth place finish.
“It was quite a disappointing weekend, as we had the pace but not the results,” said Østgaard. “I had my first experience of driving a Clio Cup racecar in wet conditions and wished for a wet weekend, but conditions were dry on Saturday (31 May). I matched the leaders’ pace in the races, therefore it’s a shame to come away with only sixth and seventh-place finishes. I definitely feel a lot more confident in the car and the Michelin Clio Cup ‘Race Series’ and will be giving it my very best right up until the end of the season!”
Randon added: “It was a weekend full of ups and downs,” said Randon. “Thursday was really good as it was the first time I had been out in the car in full-wet conditions. I wasn’t expecting much from it, but finished the day top of the timesheets, which was a welcome surprise. I was wishing for a wet weekend from there onwards.
“Saturday was bone dry, which didn’t do us any favours, as I had only driven the track in the rain. I over-drove as a result and that put me on the back foot for the rest of the weekend. I ws out of position in the first race was, although I made some great progress in race two after getting off the line really well, passing both my teammate Tommy (Østgaard) and Ollie (Pidgley) on the opening lap. From there I just defended well and inherited a few places as others fell off the track.”
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