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Rapid Metcalfe Fastest Overall At Croft Test |
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Saturday, 19 May 2007 |
Formula Renault UK race winner Jeremy Metcalfe produced outstanding pace at Croft Circuit today during the second of two back-to-back days of official testing at the North Yorkshire venue, the BRDC Rising Star concluding the test comfortably fastest after lapping a full three 10ths of a second quicker than his nearest rival.
Having ended yesterday’s rain-affected outing an impressive third fastest overall, the Fleet sensation continued to show consistently quick pace this afternoon to head the times with a scintillating lap of 1m 17.268 seconds (99.01mph).
Placing Jeremy half a second clear of his nearest challenger, AKA Cobra
team-mate Adam Christodoulou, the 19-year-old ended the day three 10ths
of a second clear overall when taking combined times into consideration
from the day’s four sessions. The lap was also a full eight 10ths of a
second clear of the best from yesterday’s test.
Today’s action began with a damp but drying track following overnight
rain and during session one Jeremy posted the fourth fastest time with
a lap of 1m 20.263 seconds (95.32mph) before going on to end a dry
session two inside the top five again with a quickest lap of 1m 18.232
seconds (97.79mph).
Session three saw the drivers lap quicker still, the
BillChaser-sponsored star ending the third 55-minute run fifth fastest
with a time of 1m 17.998 seconds (98.08mph). The final outing of the
day was by far the quickest though with Jeremy making a welcome return
to the top of the timesheets with the best lap of all, 1m 17.268
seconds (99.01mph).
“I’m really happy to have been fastest today and the great thing for us
is that we know we could have been even quicker”, said a delighted
Jeremy, “I worked really hard with Jacko (Paul Jackson – AKA Cobra
chief engineer) today and we found out a lot about the set-up so we’re
feeling very confident ahead of the Croft races in a couple of weeks.”
While the last two days of testing have gone very well for the
Loughborough University student, he was hampered during today’s
sessions by slower traffic which came as a result of a decision to
allow Formula Renault BARC runners to take part in the test alongside
their Formula Renault UK counterparts.
“Although we were fastest, I didn’t get a clear run on either of my
quickest laps”, explained the Hampshire ace, “On the first I had to
pass a car at Tower and on my fastest lap I had to overtake a slow car
at the final corner. I’m quite confident we could have edged into the
1m 16 second bracket if we hadn’t had problems with the traffic.
“We’ve had a good couple of days though. Jacko and I have worked really
well and it’s been good to be consistently fast on old and new tyres.
We’re looking in good shape for the next two rounds at Croft – I can’t
wait.”
Croft will host the next two rounds of the 2007 Formula Renault UK
Championship on 2nd/3rd June with an additional pre-event test
scheduled for Friday, 1st June.
Qualifying for rounds seven and eight of the season, which will
unusually be combined into just one 20-minute session due to timetable
restrictions, will take place on Saturday, 2nd June, with both races
timetabled for Sunday, 3rd June.
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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