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Sims Confident After Impressive Thruxton Display |
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Friday, 10 August 2007 |
Manor Competition’s Alexander Sims (Peterborough) topped the timesheets during official Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship testing at Hampshire’s Thruxton circuit on Wednesday, 8th August. The 19-year-old set a time of 1min 10.342s (120.57mph) at the high-speed track to beat Fortec Motorsport’s Dean Smith (Wolverhampton) into second place by just 0.047s on combined times. Smith set the fastest time of the morning session at 1min 10.389s (120.47mph).
The test day at the 2.36-mile circuit replaces the usual pre-race test held on the Friday prior to British Touring Car Championship meetings, which the Formula Renault UK Championship supports. Although the Thruxton races are not until 13th/14th October – the final two rounds of the 2007 season – Sims is confident of scoring strong results in rounds 15 and 16 at Kent’s Brands Hatch Indy circuit on 18th/19th August.
Session one saw Smith set the fastest time just 0.018s ahead of
team-mate Riki Christodoulou (Sutton Coldfield). His cousin, AKA
Cobra’s Adam Christodoulou (Lichfield), was only a further 0.03s off
the pace in third place. The two other Fortec cars of championship
leader Duncan Tappy (West Ewell) and Ryuji Yamamoto (Northampton) were
fourth and fifth respectively as the Entrants’ standings leader put in
an impressive performance.
AKA Cobra’s Jeremy Metcalfe (Fleet) was sixth fastest at his local
circuit, with Sims in seventh ahead of AKA Cobra’s Chris Holmes
(Ilkley). Eurotek Motorsport’s Jordan Oakes (Hopton) and Apotex Scorpio
Motorsport’s Will Bratt (Banbury) rounded out the top 10.
The second 45-minute session saw Sims set the fastest time, with Smith
closing to within 0.130s after his final lap of the stint. Tappy was
third ahead of Riki Christodoulou as just 0.271s separated the top four.
AKA Cobra team-mates Adam Christodoulou and Metcalfe both finished
inside the top six once again, while RS Racing’s Richard Singleton
(Conwy) improved from 13th in session one to lie seventh ahead of
Bratt. Eucatex’s Adriano Buzaid (Oxford) jumped from 11th to ninth in
session two, while Manor Competition’s Alex Morgan (Bridgend) climbed
from 16th in session one to complete the top 10.
Commenting on the test, fastest overall Alexander Sims said: “This
result is a lot to do with the time I’ve had on track. My results here
in rounds five and six weren’t the best but I’ve learned plenty about
the car since then and it’s now paying off. I still think I can go
faster here and didn’t use a full set of new tyres so I should be in
good shape when we race here at the end of the season.”
Rounds 15 and 16 of the Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship
take place at Kent’s Brands Hatch Indy circuit on 18th/19th August.
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