Michael Epps Croft report

Rounds 8 & 9 of the Formula Renault BARC Championship were staged last Sunday (22^nd July) at Croft. Michael Epps charged through in his first race, getting his best (and his team’s best) finish so far in the series.Engine problems halted Epps’ first Qualifying very early on. On only the third lap going down the fast back section, the car’s oil pressure dropped to zero and the engine lost power. “I cut it off pretty much straight away, there was no way that would get back to the pits, it already sounded very rough before I even got to switching it off. It was the first lap I’d really pushed it as well!”

This is just another nasty piece of luck during what has been a terrible season for Epps, but that said he still qualified 19^th with no flying lap. Sadly the engine had blown, and much of it’s insides were now scattered all around the car. The team worked hard but it couldn’t be fixed in time for the second qualifying session later this afternoon. This was a huge blow for the Anytime Fitness backed driver.

Starting 19^th in his JWA-Avila Renault machine for the first race, he got a decent start and began to pick his way through. With other cars off and many having their own battles through the field, Epps picked a few off and took advantage of others messing around to get through to 10^th position by the flag. This was his first top ten finish in one of Europe’s most challenging single seater series.

JWA-Avila were very happy too, being a relatively new and inexperienced team in single seaters and F-Renault. “I’m pretty happy that I could get that far up, and it was from 19^th place! Now all we need to do is start 10^th or better and we are laughing.”Epps was upbeat going into the second race later in the afternoon, starting in last due to not taking part in the second qualifying with a blown engine. He got a lightning start, passing 5 cars in the first lap, each at a different corner. Coming into the second lap however, Epps yet again became a victim of someone else’s incident. Following a few cars ahead into the first corner, one car ahead went for a late overtake and spun, taking Epps off with him.

“Everyone seemed to bunch up and slow down, it was like the first lap again. The guy ahead of me braked quite a lot later than those ahead and ended up hitting one of them and flying off track. I was on the outside of him and had nowhere to go really except into the gravel, which is where my race ended pretty quickly. I wish I had stayed right instead of going left, but what can you do.”

The term “that’s racing”, has been used more than too often this year for Epps, but he remains confident going into the last 5 rounds of the season at Donington and Silverstone. “I’ve had so much rubbish luck this year, not one weekend has gone right yet. The next one is at Donington, and last time I was there I had a double win in Formula Vee last year, so I’ll naturally have more confidence again heading back there.”

“We just need to get qualifying right, I was on for a good position this time but then the car let me down. I guess that’s just how things can go.” All the bad points ignored though, Epps has once again proved his ability to race and get through the field, and probably earned some more respect as a driver in the series.

The next 3 rounds are at Donington Circuit in Derbyshire on 18^th/19^th August, where Michael will be aiming to improve vastly.