A Superb Race And First Ever Victory For Jamie Tonks
Jamie Tonks gained his first ever TCR UK victory in the blistering heat at this weekends Oulton park races. Alex Ley also grabbed his second victory during the event.
With the summer sun beaming down on the course all weekend it was a perfect day for racing, and boy did it live up to the hype.
During round 8 it was Alex Ley who claimed his second consecutive win of the season, While Jamie Tonks took the win during round 9, being his first victory of this season.
The Championship table is looking tight at the top now as we head into the second half of the season. Chris Smiley, sat in 3rd, has pulled to within 1 point of 2nd place Max Hart. Having been leading prior to this weekend Max sadly registered his first and second DNF of the season during the races. This caused Isaac Smith to leapfrog into first in the championship after consecutively finishing on the podium as of late.
Round 8
As the lights went out, Ley took advantage of being pole and tried to create a gap, yet Shepard was hot on his tail heading into the first corner and was forcing Ley to defend early as they entered the hairpin. The middle of the pack was bunched up and due to jostling there was more than a few position changes. With Newsham being slow out of the hairpin, dropping to the back of the pack and Kent being forced into using the escape road as he was left no gap. Despite a handful of drivers briefly visiting the grass, lap 1 saw everyone through.
Hart, with seemingly a point to prove, managed to catch the pack by lap 3 yet that was where the drive began to go wrong. It was only 2 laps later when the bracket that controls the power steering snapped off, causing Harts first DNF of the season. With 3 laps to go, Kent also had to retire due to a battle with Eales. Ley raced to back to back first place finishes, Tonks, climbed from 7th on grid to a 5th place finish.
Round 9
After applying penalties it was Wilson who was on pole for the second race of the day with Tonks starting from 6th. Lewis Kent and Winfield quickly passed Wilson. On Lap 11 Winfield finally managed to pass Lewis Kent, but as he was fighting back it was Tonks who took advantage of the gap on the outside line and proceeded to pass Winfield too before exiting the hairpin
Winfield was unable to catch Tonks in the end. An immaculate performance which ended with Tonks claiming his first TCR UK Championship victory as well as being rewarded The Tom Walker Memorial Trophy.
Jamie had the following to say after the races.
“It’s great to take my first TCR UK win. I knew the pace was there, it was just a case of getting into a position where I could challenge for the lead. I had a great start and took advantage of the scraps going on around me. I then waited for the opportunity and once in the lead, I was able to hold on. I couldn’t have done it without all of the support from my sponsors and the team who provided me with a race-winning car.”
Smith was for the Co-Ord Sport Driver Of The Day after a solid day of racing
Next up on the calendar is a trip to Castle Combe on August 6th. So stay tuned for updates from the next race.
Photo Credit – Jakob Ebrey / TCR UK
