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Metcalfe Makes Welcome Podium Return At Thruxton |
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Monday, 07 May 2007 |
 Formula Renault UK star Jeremy Metcalfe made a welcome return to the championship podium at Thruxton this afternoon, Sunday, 6th May, during the sixth round of the season at the ultra-fast Hampshire venue.
Although a damaged front-wing caused Jeremy problems in the first of the weekend’s two races, an eighth place finish added to the 25 points for third position in race two ensures the 19-year-old BRDC Rising Star remains in touch with the series top three, retaining fourth position in the title chase ahead of a four-week break in the calendar.
Sunday morning’s first Formula Renault UK encounter saw the AKA Cobra
ace get away from the line reasonably well in third position and
although momentarily slipping behind rival Duncan Tappy, he regained
the place into the complex.
Running side-by-side through the fearsome Church Corner, Fleet-based
Jeremy lost out to Tappy and slight contact between the two resulted in
damage to the front-wing on the Hampshire sensation’s car. Seriously
compromising handling and grip for the remainder of the 16 lap race,
Jeremy did well to finish in eighth position.
Keyed-up to make amends in round six, the BillChaser-supported driver
didn’t make the best of starts but still managed to maintain his grid
position of fourth and started to pull away from team-mate Nathan
Caratti during the first few laps.
In the middle of an AKA Cobra sandwich on lap four, with pole-man Adam
Christodoulou ahead of him, Jeremy started to close in on third place
and on lap five the Loughborough University student made the decisive
move to snatch the podium place which he would easily hold to the
finish.
Although delighted to be back on the podium, especially at his ‘home’
circuit, Jeremy is now focused on closing the gap to reigning champion
entrant Fortec Motorsport during the upcoming four-week break in the
Formula Renault UK calendar.
“We’ve had some bad luck in the last few races so it’s great to be back
on the podium here at Thruxton”, said Jeremy after round six, “We were
still lacking pace though compared to the Fortec cars so we definitely
have to keep working hard to close the gap.
“Race one was unfortunate, starting third on the grid it seemed more
likely we’d be on the podium in that race but after my front wing was
broken it was all about damage limitation really and making sure I
brought the car home safely. I defended as well as I could without
doing anything stupid but eighth place was the best we could hope for.”
Formula Renault UK now takes a month-long break from race action with
rounds seven and eight of the season taking place at Croft Circuit on
2nd/3rd June with a pre-event test scheduled for Friday, 1st June.
Prior to this, Jeremy will return to the cockpit of his AKA Cobra car
on Wednesday, 16th May, for a full day of exclusive Formula Renault UK
testing while an additional shared day of testing will take place on
Thursday, 17th May, at the North Yorkshire venue.
Provisional 2007 Formula Renault UK Championship Standings (after Rds5&6)
1st Duncan Tappy, 181pts; 2nd Dean Smith, 172pts; 4th Jeremy Metcalfe, 121pts
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