Caldeiro claims Brands sprint for first 2019 win

Jazmin Caldeiro took her long-awaited first victory in the 2019 edition of the AutoReject 2.0 series, emerging from an error-packed Brands Hatch sprint race as the winner.

Starting from eighth on the grid, Caldeiro made steady progress in the opening ten laps and tactically picked her way through the front-running pack. Her progress had started to stagnate after she and Vaclav Malsyz were stuck behind polesitter Dagan Jamakovic, who was beginning to lose ground on runaway leader Ramon Lorenzo.

Breezing past both Malsyz and Jamakovic, Caldeiro set about reducing the arrears to Lorenzo, who had cleared Jamakovic off the start-line and broke into a hefty early lead.

Slowly eroding into Lorenzo’s lead, Caldeiro was patient in her approach to taking the lead and spent a few laps following the Spanish driver before breezing around the outside at Paddock Hill Bend with three laps to go.

Although lapped traffic conspired to keep the gap between the pair close, Caldeiro had enough in hand to retain the lead, putting a dreadful early season to bed with a near-perfect Brands Hatch weekend.

Lorenzo joined Lotto Racing team-mate Chad Brooks on the podium, as the Belgian team celebrated its best weekend in AR2.0 yet. Vaclav Malsyz was in contention for the win, but dropped off in the latter stages and settled for fourth.

The sprint race itself was a frenetic affair, as the drivers struggled to find grip on the slippery track surface – with Paddock Hill Bend resembling a breakers’ yard at times.

Danuta Poplawski stayed out of trouble to take fifth place, ahead of Kyoko Katayama and Michela Martin, who all rose from lowly grid slots.

Skye Summers finished eighth on the road, but earned a ten-second penalty and a penalty point for dangerous driving on the opening lap. Finding herself off of the circuit on the run to Druids, she cut across Pierre St. Laurent when rejoining and broke the Canadian’s front wing. As a result, Zenaide Voeckler claims the final point on offer.