Motorsport: Morris takes first win at Silverstone

Caterham Academy racing driver Seb Morris got his Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (NEC) title charge back on track with a lights to flag victory at Silverstone.

After a problematic opening two rounds in Monza, the St Albans-based driver barged his way into the top three following his first win of the season in round four. He was 14th in round three.

Speaking to his official website, the 18-year-old said: “We’ve had so much bad luck so far this year, I’m so pleased it’s turned today – it’s absolutely fantastic to get the win.

“The season starts now for us, even with a bad first few races we can still go on from here and challenge for the championship. We’re definitely back in contention, we just need to focus now and get the most from the car.”

Qualifying on pole position for the second of the weekend’s two encounters by 0.4 seconds, after conquering the tricky wet conditions which blighted the first couple of days, Morris controlled the race from the front despite intense pressure.

Making a good launch, he darted across to the right-hand side of the track to defend the inside line from Fortec Motorsport team-mate Ben Barnicoat and went on to build an advantage of 1.4 seconds by the start of lap five.

Although Callan O’Keeffe closed in during the second half of the race, Morris didn’t put a wheel wrong and was able to pick the lines he wanted while keeping the South African at arm’s length.

In the wet third round on Saturday an unfortunate spin at mid-distance while dicing for position prevented what looked set to be a potential top six finish – although 14th position still delivered some important points for the championship standings.

Next on the 2014 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup schedule is a visit to Hockenheim in Germany over the weekend June 14-15.