Didcot racer Ian Pearson dominated the Club Class field in the opening round of the Formula Renault BARC Championship at Silverstone.

The reigning champion finished an impressive seventh overall, beating several FR2000 Class drivers, who race in more sophisticated cars, to take a commanding early lead in the championship.

The 26-year-old, now in his fifth season in the low-cost single-seater championship, finished eight places ahead of his nearest Club Class rival Andrew Webb (Solihull), with Mark Terry (Chatham, Kent) in 16th overall.

Pearson also set a new lap record on the 1.64-mile circuit with a time of 58.342s (101.13mph), shaving more than half a second off his own record from 2005.

But it was far from plain sailing during the one-day meeting for Pearson, who experienced technical problems with his Tatuus RC98/Renault car in both qualifying and the race.

A fault with his dashboard meant he could not see his rev counter, which indicates the best time to change gear. Despite this, he qualified 11th overall and then demonstrated his overtaking abilities to pick up a maximum 17 championship points.

His lead was such that Pearson, whose dad, Bob, also races in the series, could afford a 360-degree spin on the penultimate lap. Again, Pearson's quality shone through as he waited for the car to revolve fully before catching the spin and continuing on to take the chequered flag a full 23.480s ahead of Webb.

Pearson said: "It's a great way to start the season and I couldn't ask for any more. The problem with my dashboard made the race slightly awkward rather than difficult, but I know the circuit quite well so it was something I could cope with.

"The spin near the end was just one of those things, but luckily the car went right round and I could engage a gear and only lost one place. I try to measure myself against last season's times and I was slightly quicker so I'm very happy."

Pearson heads the Club Class standings with 15 points for the win, and one bonus point each for pole position and fastest lap.

The next round of the championship is at Snetterton on Saturday.