2011 F1RWRS Kent Grand Prix

The 2011 F1RWRS Kent Grand Prix was the eighth round of the 2011 Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series season. It was held at the Brands Hatch Circuit in Kent. The race was won by Aurelien Moll, his and his team Ecurie de Course Belge's first race win.

Race Report

Pre-Race

Ashley Watkinson decided to leave Pacchia for the underfunded Hemogoblin Autowerks. Dougal Kerr took driving responsibilities at Pacchia.

Qualifying

After the English Grand Prix at Snetterton, the pre-qualifiers were reevaluated and reset according to their respective positions in the Drivers' Championship. Thirteen drivers participated in pre-qualifying and four qualified. They were: Jari Kekkonen, James Davies, Hagane Shizuka and Aurelien Moll. Ashley Watkinson, the polesitter from the last race, failed to qualify. In the main qualifying session, Thomas De Bock shocked the paddock with a stonking lap in his rock of a Calinetic. Another notable was Aurelien Moll who made a good job of his first start after five straight DNQs by taking seventh. Chris Dagnall joined De Bock on the front row.

Race

At the start, Simon Redman blasted through the field to take second while De Bock flew off with the lead. Dagnall fell to seventh. On Lap 3, De Bock made an error and let by both Redman and third place man Daniel Melrose. Interestingly, Aurelien Moll pitted on the same lap, putting him at the back of the field. One lap later, Melrose found himself in sixth. Dagnall fell to ninth, having suffered some suspension damage. Gary Cameron took third but would take second on Lap 5 after De Bock made a mistake. Cameron then attacked Redman and passed him on Lap 7. This would last only one lap as Cameron went off, leaving De Bock in the lead. Then, Redman made a brilliant overtaking maneuver, passing De Bock into Druids.

Lap 10 saw De Bock take the lead again but the drama took place further back. Phoenix McAllister and Dave Simpson collided at Clark, causing a major pileup reminiscent of the Belgian Grand Prix earlier this season. Both drivers were shown the black-and-orange flag, and were forced to make a mandatory pitstop (they later retired from the race). Douglas Mann also crashed and was ordered to pit, despite the fact that Mann's car was barely damaged. Giovanni Roda, Hagane Shizuka and Luca Pacchiarini also pitted. De Bock held the lead until Lap 13 when he was passed by Spencer. Moll then came charging through, fresh off dusting off the rest of the field, and took the lead on Lap 14.

As the race wore on, the three leaders from the first half all dropped back, leaving the ones who had pitted already to go in front, just like always. Frank Zimmer and Pippa Mann found themselves in second and third by Lap 18. James Davies was also lurking around in fourth. Spencer, who had been holding up Pippa for two laps, pitted on Lap 19. Meanwhile, Moll continued to dash off, taking an insurmountable lead. The rest of the race saw very little action. David Koczo was forced to pit but he returned in eighth. Pippa Mann was also forced to pit; her tires just couldn't take the heat anymore. Moll also had an old set of tyres but he managed to bring the car home for a win. Frank Zimmer hit the wall on the last lap, letting Davies through to take second. Shizuka was fourth, Roda was fifth, Koczo was sixth, Pacchiarini was seventh and Spencer was eighth. Spencer failed to make much ground on championship leader Daniel Melrose who lost ground after his early success and was disqualified for not pitting.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Pre-Q	Time	Gap
1	8	Thomas De Bock	Calinetic-Ford	--	0:50.99	--
2	18	Chris Dagnall	Jones-Renault	--	0:51.11	+0.12
3	5	Daniel Melrose	JLD-BMW	--	0:51.29	+0.30
4	3	Nathanael Spencer	Prospec	--	0:51.30	+0.31
5	13	Simon Redman	Kahama-Ford	--	0:51.32	+0.33
6	1	Gary Cameron	Calinetic-Ford	--	0:51.40	+0.41
7	22	Aurelien Moll	ECB-Gillet	0:50.94*	0:51.48	+0.49
8	7	Phoenix McAllister	Phoenix-Porsche	--	0:51.61	+0.62
9	4	David Koczo	Prospec	--	0:51.71	+0.72
10	5	James Davies	Bangelia-Alfa Romeo	--	0:51.78	+0.79
11	15	T. Hemo Goblin	Hemogoblin-Ford	--	0:51.93	+0.94
12	16	Dave Simpson	Minardi-Cosworth	--	0:52.00	+1.01
13	6	Frank Zimmer	Holden	--	0:52.03	+1.04
14	12	Hagane Shizuka	MAN	0:50.94*	0:52.13	+1.14
15	24	Jari Kekkonen	ArrowTech-Cosworth	0:50.92	0:52.20	+1.21
16	19	Giovanni Roda	Trueba-Judd	--	0:52.29	+1.30
17	21	Pippa Mann	AMR-Peel-DMC	--	0:52.39	+1.40
18	8	Luca Pacchiarini	Pacchia-Coswojuddhartlambo	--	0:52.54	+1.55
19	20	Douglas Mann	AMR-Peel-DMC	--	0:52.58	+1.59
DNPQ	27	Barii Mori	Phoenix-Porsche	0:50.94*
DNPQ	11	Darren Older Jr	CR-Ford	0:50.94*
DNPQ	28	Dougal Kerr	Pacchia-Coswojuddhartlambo	0:50.95
DNPQ	17	Sammy Jones	Jones-Renault	0:50.98
DNPQ	9	Ashley Watkinson	Hemogoblin-Ford	0:50.98
DNPQ	25	Nicolas Steele	ArrowTech-Cosworth	0:51.01
DNPQ	23	John Zimmer	Holden	0:51.01
DNPQ	14	Kay Lon	Kahama-Ford	0:51.01
DNPQ	26	Jeroen Krautmeir	JLD-BMW	0:51.03

• Shizuka, Older Jr., Mori and Moll all set the same time in qualifying and competed in a short qualifying race to decide who made it through. Moll and Shizuka advanced.

Standings After the Race

• Bold text indicates who still has a mathematical chance of becoming champion.

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Pts
1	Daniel Melrose	49
2	Nathanael Spencer	41
3	David Koczo	31
4	Pippa Mann	25
4=	Dave Simpson	25

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Team	Pts
1	Prospec	70
2	JLD-BMW	49
3	Calinetic-Ford	43
4	AMR-DeLorean/Peel	35
5	Minardi-Cosworth	25

Previous race: 2011 English Grand Prix	Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series Championship 2011 Season	Next race: 2011 Dutch Grand Prix
Previous race: None	Kent Grand Prix	Next race: 2012 Kent Grand Prix