BFF: Oulton Park round 11 notes

Kimball Takes First Victory At Oulton Park

American Charlie Kimball took his first victory of the season in round eleven of the UK Formula Ford Championship at Oulton Park in Cheshire this afternoon. Kimball became only the third driver of 2004 to win a race as series leader Valle Makela suffered his worst result of the year to finish sixth.

Daniel Clarke took advantage of his pole position to lead the opening lap with Makela in second ahead of Charlie Donnelly. A spin by Makela at Lodge Corner at the end of lap two meant he dropped down to almost last place. The following chaos allowed Donnelly to get past Clarke and into the lead.

Kimball took advantage of the tow given to him by the rest of the chasing pack and managed to dive past Donnelly two laps later at Old Hall. A handful of clear and tidy laps allowed the American to pull out a lead that he would keep all the way to the chequered flag.

"I knew that I had to get out of that chasing group quickly," said Kimball afterwards. "They were battling really hard and it was going to cost anyone of u the chance to catch Donnelly and get past. I knew that if I could get into the lead and pull out a small gap over a couple of laps then I'd be pretty untouchable and it worked out that way," he added.

Behind Kimball, Donnelly was under immense pressure from Clarke, Sandher and Sebastian Hohenthal for the length of the race. Sandher managed to get into third behind Clarke with a handful of laps left to go. Clarke then found his way past Donnelly on the penultimate lap.

Sandher managed to find a way past later on the same lap, but his hard work came undone when he spun on the entry to Lodge and took Donnelly with him. The double spin allowed Neil Doran to move ahead and into fourth place. Stuart Gough had challenged Donnelly for the lead early in the race, but was caught out in the chasing pack. Fifth place was a gift after Donnelly and Sandher rotated.

Makela came across the line in a surprising sixth place. He had worked his way up to eighth place with a great comeback drive, but the series leader was definitely playing second fiddle to Kimball and the rest of the chasing pack today. A pole position start tomorrow should hopefully be the ideal way for him to recover his championship momentum.

UK Formula Ford Championship -- Round 11
Oulton Park -- Results:

1 Charlie Kimball Van Diemen RF04 19m11.532s
2 Daniel Clarke Van Diemen RF04 19m15.879s
3 Sebastian Hohenthal Van Diemen RF03 19m17.137s
4 Neil Doran Van Diemen RF03 19m18.801s
5 Stuart Gough Van DiemenRF03 19m23.010s
6 Valle Makela Van Diemen RF03 19m24.135s

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