Zamparelli takes charge at Croft

BRDC Rising Star Dino Zamparelli came away from Croft with a victory and second place finish in the two races to immediately push himself from 5th to 1st in the standings. Zamparelli had qualified on pole for round 7 with a quick lap, over a tenth quicker than his nearest rival. Qualifying for round 8 took place later in the day and Zamparelli was looking likely for pole, but was to be dislodged by Josh Webster by a mere 0.020 of a second.

“Josh had a problem with one of his tyres in the first qualifying which meant he couldn’t use it. For the second qualifying, he was able to use a newer rear tyre so had a slight advantage. This gave him pole position, but being only 0.020 shows my lap was very quick and that we’re in a very strong position, even with him having an advantage.”

“Still, pole for race one and second for race two is good and I’ll be pushing for the wins”, explained Dino.

Dino made a decent start from pole position for round 7, but it was James Thorp who made the better start and managed to seize the lead into the first corner. Zamparelli slotted in behind and followed Thorp all the way to the chequered flag, unable to make any kind of move.

“It wasn’t a bad start, Thorp just got a better one. I came round the first lap and saw the championship leader in the gravel, so decided that I wasn’t going to do anything stupid and would rather have points at this stage.

“I didn’t get close enough to Thorp but was pushing hard. Croft isn’t easy to overtake but it’s very easy to defend. Still, good points for the championship.”

For round 8, Zamparelli started in second position, but this time it was he who made the better start. Zamparelli launched straight into the slip stream of pole man Josh Webster on the run down to the first corner. As they entered the corner, Webster blocked the inside line and Zamparelli swept to the outside and out-braked his rival, edging his nose ahead. By the 2nd and 3rd corner, Zamparelli had the initiative and was doing all he could to keep Webster behind.  Once they’d completed the lap, Zamparelli was ahead by over a second and put his head down until the end of the race to take a well deserved victory. The win pushed Zamparelli into the top of the standings with just 2 rounds remaining.

A delighted Zamparelli describes...”That was awesome! The move at the start sealed my fate for the win. I managed to get in front, hold him off and then reel off some very consistent lap times to keep ahead.

“The problem I had was that Josh’s (Webster) tyres were fresher than mine, as he only completed about 500m in race one! Therefore he had more grip. So I knew I had to get away as soon as possible before his tyres made the difference.

“By lap 6 or 7, I had about a 1.6 second lead. From every lap then on, he gained about a tenth or two, however I made sure that my driving and lap times stayed the same and I knew he shouldn’t be able to close in enough to challenge me.

“This win is great and to take the championship lead is a great confidence booster for the 6 week break until the next round. Much credit goes to my team, Antel Motorsport, who did an amazing job all weekend. The win goes to them for all their hard work”.

Rounds 9 & 10 of the Formula Renault BARC Championship take place on 3rd September at Thruxton.