A Shropshire racing car driver is still in with a chance of winning the F1000 championship – despite mechanical failings in his last race.
Lee Morgan, of Telford, who races for Perpetuum Motorsport, sponsored by D4Ddrivers, with team member Andrew Wheals, from Whitchurch, dropped to second spot after a difficult weekend of racing but said he is still aiming for the top.
“It was a disappointing race meet and there are now just three races remaining of the season but there is still everything to play for with 90 points available to win over the next race weekend,” he said.
Ryan Vaughan, of D4Drivers, said: “We are all rooting for Lee and really hope the last race in October gets him to the top but he has done fantastically this season whatever the result and we are very proud of him.”
Qualifying at Oulton park ended before it had even begun for Mr Morgan as the chain snapped as he headed out onto the circuit.
He said: “With limited time and having to recover the car back to the pits there was no time to fix the car.
“Having not recorded a qualifying time, I had two options. I could start from last on the grid or start from the pitlane and I opted to start on the grid.
“But with the chain fixed and cars heading to the assembly ready to race, disaster struck and an issue with the clutch meant that even with the pedal fully pressed down, the clutch wasn’t fully disengaging.
“There was no time to fix the problem so I was unable to change down the gears without blipping the throttle and was unable to even make it to the start box as the car wouldn’t go into neutral.”
Mr Morgan managed to get the car off the line despite the problems and battled hard and made progress to sixth place on the final lap of the race, which became fifth place due to a time penalty for a car ahead.
“With all the difficulties I had, I was over the moon with the result,” he said.
Mr Mogan unfortunately could not take part in the second race as the mechanic found that the snapped chain in the qualifying race had broken the clutch cover.
“The car was in pieces and there was no time to repair it so that was sadly the end of my weekend,” he said.
Mr Wheals had a good qualifying session, placing 16th out of 22 cars going a full one second quicker than his 2020 qualifying time.
In the first race, he moved up two places to finish 14th place and recorded his fastest ever lap of Oulton Park, breaking the 1m 40s barrier to record a 1m 39.9s lap.
During the second race, Mr Wheals unfortunately had a spin, dropping him down the field, and he finished in 17th place.
Mr Mogan is hoping to get back to the top position in the last meet at Snetterton on October 16 and 17, where there are three races remaining.
“I am still delighted with how Perpetuum Motorsport has performed this season and mechanical failures, while disappointing, are all part of it.”
Perpetuum Motorsports is sponsored by D4Drivers, whose head offices are in Shropshire.
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