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Manor
Competition’s Alexander Sims (Peterborough) received a confidence boost ahead of
the final two rounds of the Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship
by setting the fastest time in each session of official testing at Snetterton on
Tuesday, 2nd October. A lap of 1min 05.030s (108.05mph) in the
morning was bettered by his mark of 1min 04.691s (108.62mph) in session
two.
The 19-year-old,
who is looking to add to his victory in round 11 earlier this season, used the
day to test with both the standard Formula Renault UK tyre and the tyre that
will be used at Thruxton circuit for rounds 19 and 20 on
13th/14th October, specially designed to cope with the
high-speed nature of the Hampshire circuit.
Sims led session
one by 0.153s from Fortec Motorsport’s Riki Christodoulou (Sutton Coldfield)
with Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas in third place on his debut for AKA Cobra.
Alex Morgan (Bridgend) and Kris Loane (Kesh) ensured Manor Competition filled
three of the top-five places. AKA Cobra’s Nathan Caratti (London) was sixth
quickest, while his team-mate Adam Christodoulou (Lichfield) was also within
half a second of the leader in seventh.
Eurotek
Motorsport’s David McDonald (Ewell) took eighth place ahead of Hillspeed’s
Richard Singleton (Conwy) and Borthwick Motorsport’s Ryan Borthwick (Hawick)
completed the top 10. Alpine Motorsport’s Dean Stoneman, AMR’s Andy Meyrick
(Delamere) and 2007 Formula Renault BARC champion Hywel Lloyd (Corwen) were all
within one second of Sims’ benchmark time.
Session two saw
Sims set a time three-tenths of a second quicker than anyone else, Bottas next
quickest with Loane the only other driver able to lap within half a second of
Sims. Singleton improved to fourth place, just ahead of Welsh compatriot Lloyd
who climbed to fifth in his Manor Competition car. Alex Morgan’s sixth place
completed a tremendous day for Tony Shaw’s Manor team.
Dean Stoneman
climbed four places to seventh ahead of Carlin Motorsport’s Henry Surtees
(Edenbridge), both driver and team making their first appearance in an official
Formula Renault UK test. Meyrick and Caratti rounded out the top 10, while
Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Kieren Clark (Tadlow), who had a strong end to the
Formula Renault BARC Championship, was less than one second off the pace on his
Formula Renault UK debut.
The top three in
the drivers’ standings, Duncan Tappy (West Ewell) and Dean Smith (Wolverhampton)
of Fortec Motorsport and Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Will Bratt (Banbury) opted
to use the Thruxton tyre and therefore rule themselves out of the official
timing.
Commenting on
the test, Alexander Sims said: “I’m very pleased with how it went today and the
team and I put in a strong performance on both types of tyre. I feel we’re in a
very strong position going into the last two races. I was quickest at the last
test at Thruxton in August and now quickest today.
“We’ve been
working really hard recently and seem to have found a really good set-up with
the car. It felt good today and just what I needed to give me confidence for the
last two races.”
Rounds 19 and 20
take place on Sunday, 14th October with qualifying held on Saturday,
13th October. Duncan Tappy leads the title race by just seven points
from team-mate Dean Smith.
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