A win and a podium at the penultimate round in Oulton Park now puts Daryl DeLeon Taylor within reach of the Radical SR1 Cup title. But it wasn’t an easy race weekend for the 17-year-old as he struggled for pace, which was later discovered to be caused by a broken component in the suspension.
Valour Racing had full confidence leading up to the event after showing strong pace during testing. However, they immediately knew that something was amiss when they got on track on Friday. Daryl reported that the #2 white-and-gold Radical SR1 suffered understeer on power and he couldn’t get anywhere close to his 1 min 41 sec previous best lap around the 4.307 km circuit. It was dismissed simply as a consequence of the higher temperatures… or so they thought.
Daryl could only manage the second quickest time in Qualifying, missing pole by 0.306 secs, but was still starting from the front row. Handling issues would continue to plagued him in Race 1 and prevented him from chasing after the lead. This forced Daryl to defend right from the get go with a train of eight hard-charging SR1s trying to find a way past. He had to make his SR1 as wide as possible for 12 grueling laps ’til the chequered flag came out. His hard work eventually paid off to deliver 2nd place across the line.
It was only after the race when someone spotted the suspension failure during scrutineering. The culprit to Daryl’s understeering woes was down to a snapped anti-roll bar, which was quickly fixed in time for Race 2.
With the handling issue now solved, Daryl was back on the hunt for a race win at Oulton Park. He slotted into P3 at the start of Race 2 and immediately chased after the leader once he got past 2nd. The battle for 1st then raged on with both drivers swapping places at almost every lap, with neither one giving an inch. After a long duel, Daryl made a lunge at the last corner to take the lead en route to his seventh win of the season.
Daryl DeLeon Taylor now extends his championship lead to 54 points ahead of the season ender in September. The Filipino-British driver only has to finish no lower than 9th in both races at Donington Park to seal the 2022 title on his full season debut.
Daryl DeLeon Taylor: “My weekend at Oulton Park was amazing. I had good battles and some great results giving me an amazing set of points. I’m glad that Valour Racing had spotted the understeer issue after Race 1 as we knew that our pace is back to where it should be. I would like to thank the team for the support and my parents for everything. Only 2 more races now to go next month at the season finale in Donington Park.”
Daryl DeLeon Taylor is supported by Train Maintenance Services (TMS).
For news and updates, Like the Daryl DeLeon Racing page on Facebook, follow @daryldeleon on Instagram, or visit daryltaylorracing.com.
