Hamish Forrest kept his Fine Cut Radical Cup UK title aspirations alive, with a maiden victory in the opening race of the Zandvoort weekend.
Victory in the second race went to championship leader Marcus Littlewood, while newcomer and local Max Van Der Snel won race three to complete his hat-trick of podiums.
Forrest qualified his Racing Rebels SR3 XXR on pole and made the best of the start, after going into Tarzan side by side with Valour Racing’s Max Van Der Snel.
“The start was always going to be hard, but I was so pleased to be on pole” he explained.
With the RSR car of Championship leader Marcus Littlewood challenging Van der Snel, Forrest was already building a lead by the end of the opening lap, while RCR Sweden’s Max Leander and Stevan Petrovic completed an early five car break.
Littlewood managed to nose down the inside of Van Der Snel into Hugenholtz on lap two, but couldn’t hold onto the place on the exit, as Forrest’s advantage continued to grow.
By the end of the third lap Petrovic had started to lose ground on the top four, which allowed Rachel Robertson to close in the second Racing Rebels car, while behind her 360 Competition’s Andy Lowe, and RSR’s John Macleod and Jake Williamson ran line astern.
A couple of laps later Leander fell away from the lead trio, but Littlewood still couldn’t find a way past Van Der Snel, as the lead had grown to 2.5 secs.
Robertson made it into fifth on lap nine and soon started to close on Leander too, while a lap later Littlewood finally made it into second and managed to pull a gap of over a second on Van Der Snel, while Forrest was almost home and dry.
But with a lap to go Littlewood was under pressure again and Van der Snel retook the place, while Forrest took the flag for his maiden Radical victory by 3.76 secs.
“I got heat into front tyres early on, but it was tight at the start. Then the battle for second helped me build a gap,” Forrest added.
“I got squeezed a bit at the start, but we were racing each other and I got through. Then he closed again with backmarkers near the end, I overdefended into Turn 3 and he got me back,” Littlewood explained.
Leander had come under late pressure too as both Robertson and Petrovic closed, but Robertson lost out on the last lap and dropped back to sixth.
Lowe, Macleod and Williamson held station throughout despite running in close formation, with RCR Sweden’s Ludvig Back completing the top 10, as DW Racing’s Alex Fisher just missed out in 11th.
“I got a great start but had some pressure from behind. So I just tried to concentrate and managed to get away,” said Lowe.
In the Radical Cup Benelux SR1 class it was Greaham Hofmans who started on pole but local F4 driver Sacha van't Pad Bosch took the class win ahead of Miles Wragg and Eddie van Dam.
Starting from pole again, Forrest just managed to hold off a determined Van Der Snel at the start, but his rivals effort to wrest the lead allowed Littlewood to split them into Gerlachbocht.
Although the top three had soon gone clear, Van Der Snel had started to lose touch with the lead pair before the end of the opening lap, but still had a comfortable gap over Robertson, Lowe and Williamson.
By the end of lap two Forrest’s lead was 0.427 secs, as Littlewood struggled to stay with him too. “I pulled away slowly after another close start, but felt I as controlling it OK,” said Forrest
But with Leander and Greenhalgh colliding at Turn 11, the safety car was out for a couple of laps.
Green again from lap six Van der Snel tried for second at Tarzan, but with Littlewood challenging for the lead too, it was back to line astern onto the Hunserug, with all three holding station.
Lowe was quick to challenge Robertson from the green flag, and having made his first challenge into Tarzan, he was through into Gerlach.
The top three were clear again, while Lowe consolidated fourth, but behind Robertson it was Williamson, Petrovic and Macleod in line for sixth.
After six laps the safety car was out again with Back stranded on track. It went green again for lap nine, but with time running out Littlewood made his move for the lead. Forrest forced his rival wide into Tarzan, but in so doing went off himself and was left stranded.
Out came the red flags and it was declared a result after eight laps, with Forrest initially keeping the win, from Littlewood, Van Der Snel, Lowe, Robertson and Williamson completing the top six.
“The restart from the first safety car was the first time I had to control a restart, I felt confident and had confidence in my car, so just had the edge. But at the second one Marcus went for it, it was an unintentional rookie error and more my fault,” Forrest admitted.
“I hadn’t had a lot of grip, so needed to try and stay close. Hamish had a really good launch at the first safety car restart, as I defended from Van Der Snel. Then I got a mega launch the second time, went outside and we both went wide and off the track,” Littlewood replied.
Forrest was then given a 10 second penalty which gave Littlewood the win from Van Der Snel and Lowe, dropping Forrest to eighth.
“I got John Macleod at Tarzan from the start but nearly spun, then had a good run to close in on Rachel. She went wide at the first safety car restart and I was through, my best result yet,” said Lowe.
Macleod had just managed to oust Petrovic for seventh before the final caution, while James Pinkerton and Fisher rounded off the top 10.
For the Radical Cup Benelux SR1 class it was another win for Sacha van't Pad Bosch, despite a fastest lap going to second place Greaham Hofmans who kept ahead of Miles Wragg.
Although Forrest was on pole, it was Van Der Snel taking the advantage into Tarzan, with Littlewood losing out too. “ I couldn’t see the lights properly as Hamish’s rear wing was obscuring them,” added the Championship leader.
Littlewood managed to retake third from the fast starting Robertson, while Petrovic, Lowe and Leander completed the initial top six, after Robertson had an off.
Into Tarzan for the second time Littlewood made his challenge for second, and was ahead of Forrest as they entered Gerlach.
The lead trio started to pull clear, leaving Petrovic solo in fourth. But Forrest was struggling to stay in touch too, as Leander came under pressure from Williamson for sixth.
While Macleod headed pitwards to retire, Littlewood was managing to hold he gap to Van Der Snel, but by lap nine his lead was up to 1.093 secs.
Lowe’s fifth place was suddenly under threat too, after Williamson finally ousted Leander into Tarzan.
The pitstop window was approaching and the lead had grown to1.930 secs, but with both Littlewood and Forrest on success penalties, Van Der Snel emerged 11.088 secs clear, with Littlewood, Forrest, Mikael Bern and Lowe fairly spread behind.
But on lap 20 Van der Snel’s lead was eroded when the safety car appeared, leaving just a one lap sprint to the flag.
Van Der Snel took the win by just 0.278secs from Littlewood, with Forrest completing the podium, “I didn’t risk anything at the final restart, more self- preservation,” said Littlewood.
Lowe finished fourth on the road after taking Bern at the restart, but his move was deemed too early and he was penalised. “I hadn’t realised I had gone before the line, I was just focussing on getting a good run into Turn One. We made a change to the wing setting though and it gave me good straightline speed,” he explained.
Bern/Petrovic therefore inherited fourth, with Williamson and Leander the rest of the top six. DW Racing's Alex Fisher also moved up as Lowe’s penalty dropped him to ninth, while Robin/Jerome Greenhalgh completed the top 10, followed by Robertson a couple of laps down.
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