Jake Evans strengthened his advantage at the top of the Division 2 standings this past weekend (June 20-21) as the British Truck Racing Championship made its annual visit to Pembrey Circuit in South Wales.
The MAN TGX driver headed into the third meeting of the season with a healthy margin over the rest of the field and he duly extended that by producing a flawless performance across Saturday and Sunday.
With Sami Ojanen debuting his brand-new Mercedes Ateco and father-son duo Simon Cole and Archie Handy making a return after missing Thruxton, the battle for Division 2 supremacy had all the makings of being as competitive as ever going into qualifying on Saturday morning.
Evans quickly stamped his authority on proceedings around the 1.446-mile circuit though as he pipped former title winner John Powell to pole position by just 0.078s, with Bradley Harvey and Callum Eason not far behind in third and fourth respectively.
Starting at the head of the Division 2 runners, Evans then dished up a sublime drive in the weekend’s opening contest as he managed to pull clear of the opposition – mixing it with several Division 1 competitors along the way – to ultimately triumph.
Thruxton supremo Eason had been hanging on to the rear bumper of Evans in the early going but a small mistake at mid-distance dropped him back, which in-turn allowed Powell and Harvey to move up to second and third.
Evans’ skills continued to shine through in race two as he once again quickly pulled clear and then cruised home to triumph. Eason, who had started towards the rear of the field, battled valiantly to snare second while Harvey was third.
Sunday would see the Evans train continue to set a ferocious pace in race three, although this time Eason was able to remain within striking distance throughout – the pair ultimately being separated by half a second at the chequered flag.
After coming oh-so close in the day’s earlier bout, Eason finally stood on the top step of the podium in race four, albeit only after Evans and Harvey had been handed time penalties.
The aforementioned drivers had finished first and second on the road but were adjudged to have exceeded track limits one too many times. The punishment therefore was a five-second time penalty, which elevated Eason from third to first.
Not to be deterred from having a potential clean sweep snatched away from him, Evans bounced back to close out his weekend in the same manner in which he started it as he hit the front and didn’t look back, beating Eason and Powell by a handful of seconds.
Elsewhere, Ojanen endured a relatively trouble-free debut in his Mercedes while Cole, Handy and Warren Harvey were forced to dig deep as they battled their own issues across the weekend.
The British Truck Racing Championship continues in less than three weeks’ time at Snetterton on July 11-12.
