Lynch Secures Knockhill Podium and Second in the Championship.

The penultimate round of the 2011 Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship at Knockhill, Scotland brought Westhoughton-based racer Tony Lynch and his Lucas Oils Team Geriatric team back into second in the Championship with just the trip to Croft remaining.

With the results of Lydden Hill still pending after Lynch appealed the decision not to allow him to restarting the final and the trip to Mallory Park cancelled, Lynch needed a strong result north of the border to reclaim second overall and to keep his slender Championship hopes alive.

Three action packed heats at the picturesque circuit overlooking the Firth of Forth brought Lynch a second, fourth and third in tricky conditions. The results meant that he would line up fifth for the final, but by the first corner he was up to second.

Lynch’s main rival for second in the Championship, Adam Clark, had dropped to the rear of the field after a first corner incident, the Lucas Oils Team Geriatric driver set about chasing down Championship leader Dave Bellerby for the Scottish victory – Lynch also had to defend from Chris Mullen, who was sitting third.

Lynch made a small mistake which allowed Mullen through but third place and the final step on the podium was enough for Lynch to move back into second overall in the Championship.

“The heats were difficult because of the conditions on track after a number of rain showers and I’d hoped to be higher than fifth on the grid for the final,” he said. “However, I got a fantastic start to climb into second and even though Chris got ahead of me before the finish, he did it with a move that I’d have been proud of if I’d done it myself. Third was still a good result as it means I’m back into second in the championship.”

During the Knockhill weekend, Lynch discovered that Richard Norman had been excluded from the Lydden Hill results as a result of the contact between the pair on the opening lap of the final – it was this incident which led to the title hopes of Lynch taking a huge dent, as we was unable to take the restart after the first attempt was red flagged.

Lynch will head to Croft for the finale focused on secured second overall for the second consecutive season.

“Although I didn’t manage to get the victory at Knockhill, it was a case of mission accomplished because we’ve move back into second place in the championship,” he said. “Now I just need to go to Croft and push hard for victory because if can end the season with a win, then I’ll be secure in second place in the championship and beyond that, who knows.

“Even though I still have a chance of winning the title depending on the final ruling on Lydden Hill, it’s going to need Dave to have a terrible weekend for me to stand a chance of overhauling him and that isn’t how I’d want to win the title. However, with the bad luck we’ve endured this season, if we can go to the final round and take second place for the second successive season, we’ll be able to hold our heads up high.”

Chatin Claims Three out of Four Paul Ricard Victories.

Paul-Loup Chatin secured three out of the four available victories to him during the penultimate World Series by Renault race weekend at Paul Ricard HTTT.

In the Eurocup Formula Renault, he secured his first Pole Position before going to secure his first Eurocup victory, backing up his first series podium at Silverstone last time out while in the Formula Renault ALPS series; he secured both Pole Positions and two victories to move into the lead of the Championship.

It was the first time that the World Series by Renault had visited the Paul Ricard circuit and the visit was a success as 50,000 spectators were out in force.

Chatin, the 2010 “Euroformula Volant” was right in the top positions from the first free practice and his qualifying session came with some careful preparations. His rise up the rankings were confirmed when he secured the victory after securing Pole Position earlier in the day.

He said about securing his first victory in the Eurocup Formula Renault: “I got to pole position in my group and it also happened to be the best time overall! I had a good start in the race and then I was happy to keep a good pace without making any mistakes and cross the line as the winner in front of both Redbull drivers! My car was really well balanced and the whole TECH 1 team did some great work. I know well that the next racing weekend will be more difficult but I will keep working in the same spirit with the whole team.”

The second qualifying session didn’t bring as much fortune for Chatin as the rain intervened and he was caught out. He ended the session tenth fastest and come the race, he dropped back to thirteenth before recovering eighth by the flag.

His troubles in the second Eurocup race were soon forgotten as he dominated the two Formula Renault ALPS races – he secured Pole Position for both of them and then drove to a double win, which has moved the “Euroformula Volant” to the head of the Championship with just a trip to Spa-Francorchamps left in the season, over the 1st/2nd October.

“I was very satisfied with my ALPS weekend where I am first in the provisional general ranking thanks to my two victories,” announced the “EUROFORMULA VOLANT”, “I will be in Spa to try and win this championship which I am leading by two small points.”

Chatin heads into the final two races of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season just four points off a top five Championship finish and the Director of Euroformula, Laurent Fradon said: “Paul Loup is actually in sparkling form and I don’t doubt for one second that he cannot reach his end of season objectives. We are very satisfied with his performance which demonstrates the level of our training methods. The objective of the “EUROFORMULA VOLANT” is to help young drivers get the best possible start in motorsport, that’s what we did with Paul Loup before his TECH 1 team took over and brought him to where he is now. We will all be behind him to give him support during his next races!”

The conclusion of the 2011 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Championship takes place over the 8^th/9^th October at the Spanish Grand Prix venue at Barcelona.

Panciatici is the Comeback King at Paul Ricard.

The first visit to the Paul Ricard circuit for the Formula Renault 3.5 Series gave local driver Nelson Panciatici a chance to secure a home podium in front of his friends and family – as they are originally from the area.

Circumstances during the weekend dictated otherwise, despite the effort and hard work put in by Panciatici and the KMP Racing outfit during the Paul Ricard weekend.

Qualifying ahead of the first race saw both Panciatici and KMP Racing team-mate Anton Nebylitskiy struggle, with Panciatici lining up in P21. He produced a good race performance as he recovered up to P10 and secured the final championship point. This result cheered up the KMP Racing outfit.

A rare rain shower hit the circuit in time for the second qualifying session. At ease in the conditions, Panciatici qualified inside the top six, having set just one flying lap in the session.

He wasn’t able to convert this grid position into a podium finish as he suffered a flat tyre within the opening meters of the second race. He was forced to cut the chicane and when he pitted for a new tyre, he was dead last. He then produced a qualifying performance to fight his way back up the field to finish just outside the points with P11.

Speaking about the trip to Paul Ricard, a positive Panciatici said: “It was a very positive weekend because we brought ourselves back to a good level and we were able to battle our way forward. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, success just keeps evading us. It gets frustrating for all of us but the team believes in it and remains highly motivated. With Adrien, my engineer, we have done a good job and if we hadn’t had a flat tyre in Race 2 we’d have been in the top 5 without a doubt. In any case, I showed that I wasn’t giving in so easily and I’m counting on Barcelona to be at the front and even better if all goes well!”

KMP Racing Team Manager, Bruno Besson said about the weekend: “After a good first session in free practice, we were losing ground for the second and in the first qualifier. Nelson then had a good race and moved up into points. Sunday, Nelson made the 6^th best time under the rain, it was going well, he was short by only 12 thousands from the second line on the starting grid. Unfortunately, a flat tyre right at the start of the second race forced him to drive into a nice come-back at 11^th place. We must finish with a good result in Barcelona, we have the means to!”

The final race weekend for the 2011 World Series by Renault takes place at the Spanish Grand Prix venue at Barcelona over the 6/7/8/9 October. Panciatici and the KMP Racing team will be looking to finish off their campaign on a high note, having had limited opportunities to do so during the season to date.