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Metcalfe Aiming For Lightning Starts At Brands Indy |
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Monday, 25 September 2006 |
AKA Lemac sensation Jeremy Metcalfe knows the start to rounds 17 and 18 of the Formula Renault UK season at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit tomorrow will be critical following a tricky day of qualifying at the Kent venue.
Having shown excellent pace during Friday’s test sessions, the Fleet 18-year-old was disappointed with the seventh fastest time in the first of today’s qualifying periods after suffering a combination of understeer and oversteer problems.
Although his lap of 45.021 seconds (95.84mph) was just two 10ths of a second away from pole position, Jeremy’s time sees him line-up at the head of row four for the first of tomorrow’s races. But if he can make a good start to round 17, the BillChaser-backed star is confident he will able to challenge for a good finish well inside the top six.
“Qualifying seventh on the grid isn’t very good really”, commented
Jeremy after the round 17 session, “It was my mistake though. In
hindsight I didn’t give the car enough of a chance to settle down
before I came in to make some changes.
“I did about four or five laps but there was a lot of understeer so I
came in to make some alterations to the set-up. On reflection though,
four or five laps on the Indy Circuit is only like two laps at a longer
track so I perhaps should have given the car more time to see what it
could do before coming into the pits.”
He added: “As soon as I came back out onto the track the car went into
oversteer and then I didn’t have another chance to come back in. I only
had one lap in which to do a good time so seventh at least means we
should be in a position to challenge for the top six if we can make
good starts tomorrow.”
For round 18, Jeremy will start ninth on the grid with his best lap of
45.388 seconds (95.06mph) three 10ths of a second shy of the pole
position time. It looked as though an improvement would follow on his
final lap of the 20-minute session but some errant driving by Oli
Poyser prevented the Hampshire star from bettering his time.
Baulked on the way into the notorious Paddock Hill Bend as he started
his last lap challenge for an improved grid slot, Jeremy had no choice
but to back out of the lap as the visibly slower Poyser held the line
all the way down the hill on the run to Druids.
Round 17 of the 2006 Formula Renault UK Championship will take place
tomorrow, Sunday, 24th September, at 11.55 with round 18 following at
15.05. Both races will be covered live on Motors TV, channel 413 of the
Sky Digital platform and channel 545 through cable provider NTL.
Formula Renault UK Championship Provisional Driver Standings (after rounds 15&16):
| Pos. |
Driver |
Points |
| 1st |
Patrick Hogan |
382 |
| 2nd |
Sebastian Hohenthal |
380 |
| 3rd |
Jeremy Metcalfe |
289 |
| = |
Sam Bird |
289 |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
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