A strange, stormy qualifying lead to a mixed up grid and an interesting trio of races at Rockingham. Gordon Shedden and Sam Tordoff took the first two race wins whilst Aron Smith made it a dozen different race winners so far this season in race three.
Tordoff continues to lead the championship but the gap to Shedden in P2 is now only five points.
Race One
Best Start
A wet qualifying with plenty of teams facing mechanical problems in the stormy qualifying meant the grid for the first race of the weekend was a little mixed up. Unsurprisingly, the driver who improved the most at the start of the race was one of the out of place drivers, Rob Collard. Collard qualified P26 whilst the entire team had problems with water getting into the engine in qualifying. By the end of the first lap at Rockingham, the WSR driver had made up eleven places. The next biggest moves were Sam Tordoff and Jake Hill, who both had trouble in qualifying. They both moved up seven places.
Highest Rookie
Once again, it was MG’s Ashley Sutton who finished the race as best rookie. Sutton was unhappy with his qualifying, thinking he could take more of an advantage in the wet than he did. The rookie had few problems in the race and finished where he started, P6. The next best rookie was Mike Epps, who finished P18 and half a minute after Sutton.
Best Climber
It was another member of the out of place team who takes the prize for best climber in race one. Championship leader Sam Tordoff also suffered problems in qualifying because water got into his engine, and he qualified P27. He finished race one P10, making up an amazing seventeen places. The next biggest moves were Jack Goff, who moved forwards thirteen places throughout the race and Rob Collard and Mike Epps, who both moved forward twelve places.
Most improved on last round
Like most times, the driver who improved the most on their Knockhill race one performance didn’t actually finish their race in Scotland. Aron Smith completed fourteen laps at Knockhill, the second of the non-finishers, coming 30th on the classification. His Rockingham performance saw him finish fifteenth, an improvement of fifteenth places.
The next most improved driver did finish the Knockhill race. Josh Cook could only finish eighteenth in Scotland, but the mixed up qualifying saw him start a lot higher at Rockingham, and the MG driver finished fourth, fourteen places higher than he did in Knockhill.
Race Two
Best starter
Again, there was a lot of movement at the start of the race and, again, the biggest movers started towards the back of the grid. Jeff Smith and Mark Howard both made up ten places at the start of the race (Smith started twenty fifth whilst Howard started thirtieth. Rob Collard, Jake Hill, and Martin Depper all moved up seven places which, from Collard P14 starting position, put him in the top ten.
Highest rookie
Sutton took the best rookie award for the second race of the weekend. The MG driver started from his race one starting position and made up a single place throughout the race to finish P5. Mark Howard was the only other rookie that finished the race, He was the last classified driver, finishing P20.
Best climber
Jake Hill made up the most places throughout the race. After moving forward seven places on the opening lap, Hill made up another five places to finish sixteenth. Rob Collard was the next best climber. After starting fourteenth, the West Surrey Racing driver made up eleven places throughout the race, finishing third overall.
Most improved on last round
Again, the most improved driver failed to finish the race at Knockhill. Ashley Sutton could only manage nine laps at the Scottish track, the second non-finisher of the race. It put him P29 in the classification and his P5 result in the second race at Rockingham means he finished twenty four positions higher at the Leicestershire track than in Scotland. The next most improved driver – Ollie Jackson – also didn’t finish the Knockhill race.
The most improved driver that did manage to complete the full twenty seven laps was Andrew Jordan. The Motorbase driver finished eighth in the second Knockhill race, and finished six places higher at Rockingham with his P2 finish.
Race Three
Best start
Josh Cook made up the most places on the opening lap. There was little movement at the front of the field, with busiest drivers those who had had a difficult race one. Cook started twenty fourth on the grid and made up eight places by the time he reached the start/finish line for the first time. The next biggest mover was Jeff Smith, who started from the back of the grid and made up seven places.
Highest rookie
It was a difficult race for the rookies. For the third time that weekend, Ashley Sutton was the highest finishing rookie, but he could only manage a P19. The next highest rookie was Matt Simpson, who finished a place behind him, completing the race just over two tenths of a second after Sutton.
Best climber
Following on from his impressive first lap, Jeff Smith went on to make the most places throughout the race in the final race at Rockingham. Starting at the back of the grid, Smith made up eighteen places to finish thirteenth. Jason Plato was the next best climber, making up seventeen places to finish within the top ten after his retirement in race two.
Most improved on last round
Like races one and two, the most improved driver from last round didn’t finish the race at Knockhill. Rob Collard was the third non-finishes last round, making him P28. That makes his sixth place finish at Rockingham race three a twenty two place improvement from last round.
The next best improver also had a difficult race at Knockhill. Colin Turkington was the last driver to complete all twenty seven laps at the Scottish track, finishing twenty fourth. This time round, the Subaru driver finished on the podium in third, a twenty one place improvement.
Feature image credit: Caroline Rhea
