|
Metcalfe Hoping For Raceday Improvements At Silverstone |
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 15 October 2006 |
Formula Renault UK star Jeremy Metcalfe saw his bid for a double-podium finish at Silverstone National Circuit this weekend made a bit tougher after qualifying earlier today, the 18-year-old lining up seventh on the grid for both of Sunday’s 22-lap races.
The AKA Lemac driver, who heads into tomorrow’s final two rounds of the season fifth overall in the championship standings, was confident after Friday’s official pre-event test session at the 1.64-mile Northamptonshire venue where he set the third fastest time.
During both of today’s 20-minute qualifying sessions however, the Fleet-based teenager didn’t quite have the car under him to challenge for the first couple of rows and had to be satisfied with the seventh fastest time during each period.
In round 19 qualifying Jeremy posted a quickest lap of 54.788 seconds (107.69mph), less than three 10ths of a second outside pole position, while during the slower round 20 session his best lap of 55.343 seconds (106.61mph) was just under half a second shy of the top spot.
Although disappointed not to have replicated his pace from Friday’s test, the BillChaser supported ace remains confident ahead of raceday and hopes his AKA Lemac team will be able to eliminate the handling problems he suffered throughout qualifying.
He commented: “During the first session we had some problems with oversteer at a
couple of corners and on the National Circuit the smallest fractions of
time make a huge difference, just a couple of 10ths of a second pushed
us down to seventh place.
“We thought the second session would be better but I just couldn’t get
a time out of the car really. I had problems with grip front and rear,
it was oversteer primarily but after I came in to get a cure we picked
up a bit of understeer so we weren’t able to make any improvements
which was a shame”
Jeremy added: “Hopefully the team will be able to make some changes to
the car before the races and if we can make a good start this is
definitely the sort of place where you can pass. It will be tough to
get onto the podium but I’ll certainly give it my best shot.”
The first of tomorrow’s races, round 19, will start at 09.00 with the
20th and final round of the season timetabled to begin at approximately
14.15. However, fog did delay the start to today’s track action by an
hour and a half, so similar problems with the weather in the morning
could mean changes to the schedule.
Round 19 will be covered live on Motors TV, channel 413 of the Sky
Digital platform and NTL channel 545, although the second Formula
Renault UK race of the weekend will be shown delayed due to the
station’s commitment to live coverage of the DTM touring car series
round at Le Mans.
|
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
|
News