The overall result for RFM in its homeland did not meet the expectations of Ricky Flynn's team. Unsuccessful Qualifying attempts, fierce fights in the heats and several penalties disrupted the progress of the drivers from the British team in the second round of the CIK-FIA European Championships at the PF International circuit. The hunt for titles, however, is far from over. The arrival of a new Junior driver, Thomas Ten Brinke, was fortunately accompanied by a promising result in the top five.
The competition had started very well for the two OK drivers in the RFM team. Zane Maloney remained in 8th place in strong Qualifying Heats, while Thompson came back to the top five after his 21st in Qualifying. Unfortunately, a drop on the first lap of his last heat made his score higher and he was in 19th position for the start of the Final. Harry managed to regain ground early in the race and was 14th over the finish line, but a penalty for a dislodged spoiler pushed him back to 19th. Zane did not have time to take advantage of his 8th position as he had to retire on the 2nd lap. Still in the top 10 of the provisional points, Harry and Zane will still have the opportunity to improve their positions in the two European races still to run.
The rookie of the team, the Dutchman Thomas Ten Brinke scored the best result for RFM at PFI. Already in 9th place in Qualifying, he finished four out of five of his heats in the top three of the heats before gaining another place in the Final by finishing 5th. His superb performance ended in him gaining 17 places in the championship where he now ranks 8th. Kai Askey negotiated some great Qualifying Heats by winning twice after his 15th in Qualifying. Delayed by an incident when he was 3rd in the C-E heat, he lost several places on the starting grid of the Final. After a difficult start to the race, he was finally 9th with the second fastest time, which allowed him to stay 4th in the provisional classification.
Matthew Rees made a superb recovery of 20 places in the Final and finished 14th, making up for a complicated start to the meeting since his 41st in Qualifying. It earned him a spectacular leap in the championship. The weekend of PFI saw disappointment for Paul Aron, leader of the rankings on his arrival in England. The Estonian gave his all to move up in the heats and qualified 14th after 33rd in Qualifying. He managed to return to 11th in an eventful Final while achieving the fastest lap, but lost three places because of a spoiler dislodged in the battle. Paul, however, retains all his chances in the Championship where he occupies 2nd position.
Zak O'Sullivan was caught in a mass crash right at the start of the Final after finishing the heats in 12th. However he then spent his time trying to reduce the large gap that separated him from the pack without being able to make a single pass. Penalised for his spoiler, he finished in a distant 23rd place that did not change his situation in the provisional classification. Despite not qualifying in the Final and a blank score at PFI, Conrad Laursen remains in the race in 10th place in the championship.
The rest of RFM's racing programme will focus on Germany with the third round of the DKM at Ampfing on 2nd and 3rd June, then the third round of the European Championship at the same circuit two weeks later.
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