Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Infinity Shine Through The Rain At Oulton Park

Back at one of Britain’s best loved circuits, we joined Jordan (Collard) for his first furore in the MINI Challenge, in what’s set to be an exciting year for the 17-year old. Taking the step from Ginetta's, Jordan quickly got to grips switching from rear-wheel to front-wheel-drive, gunning for the Rookie Cup.

Despite a shortened qualifying session on Saturday, Jordan soon showed what he’s made of, with a series of stunning maiden laps earning pole position for Monday’s race. With rain coming into play on race day, it was a tentative start as Jordan suffered wheel spin off the line, trying to get the tyres under control, the heavily soaked track made way for a small mistake allowing Whorton-Eales to take the lead. Jordan readied himself for the perfect opportunity to make his move, but a pass under yellow flags saw Harrison demote him to 3rd, a move that gained a post-race penalty for his rival. Taking the flag, Jordan finished his debut race in a spectacular 2nd place. With confidence growing, Jordan went on to claim a duo of podiums, with a hardfought 3rd in the reverse grid race.

An equally thrilling weekend was had by our British F3 boys Nicolai (Kjaergaard) and Pavan (Ravishankar) on the other side of the paddock. Tackling his second season in F3 machinery, Nicolai has both eyes set on the title and was quick to prove himself, topping the timesheets in a fiercely tight Friday practice. Lining up in 3rd for Race 1, the Dane launched into second place at the start, to claim his first British F3 podium. With the new race two reverse grid format posing a unique challenge, Nicolai soon surged from 15th to secure fourth place under a deluge of rain, his battle only curtailed as the treacherous conditions called the red flag on Lap 7. Rounding off his weekend in style, the Carlin driver started from pole for the final race. Despite even more rain soaking the track, Nicolai mastered the tricky conditions and fending off all challenge from behind, to storm to his maiden victory in the British F3 championship. Getting his campaign off to a flying start, the Danish driver now heads up the Driver standings with an 18 point margin.

New to Infinity and making his full-season debut in British F3 in 2018. Pavan wasted no time in getting to grips with his new machinery, battling against tough conditions to claim points across all three races. The Singaporean looks ahead to continue his momentum when British F3 heads Rockingham on 28/29th April.

Next we took our place trackside for the headline event British GT, ready for Ricky Collard to make his debut at the wheel of his BMW M4 GT4. As a BMW Motorsport Junior, Ricky stepped into the seat for absent Schjerpen, but didn’t hold back in making his mark with an impressive showing of pace and adaptability across the weekend rewarded with two podium finishes for the #43 car.

Signing off from rainy Oulton Infinity director Harry Soden commented:

“Great weekend for all ISM drivers, with wins, podiums, poles, fastest laps and plenty of points scored!! All of the drivers have worked very hard over the winter on and off the track and that showed at the weekend in difficult conditions. I am sure like myself they are all looking forward to the next round at Rockingham”