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Bird On Top And Hogan Strong At Silverstone Test |
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Tuesday, 22 August 2006 |
Fortec Motorsport’s Sam Bird (Claygate, Surrey) came out on top at today’s Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship official test at Silverstone National circuit. Bird set a time of 54.877s (107.52mph) at the 1.64-mile circuit to finish a mere 0.001s ahead of AKA Lemac’s Jeremy Metcalfe (Fleet, Hants). In the battle between the two leading title challengers at the circuit where the final two rounds will be held, AKA Lemac’s Patrick Hogan (Killiney, Co Dublin) was fourth fastest with 55.021s but Fortec’s Sebastian Hohenthal (Northampton) struggled to 19th overall with a time of 55.460s.
In a busy three-hour morning session, in which some drivers completed more than 80 laps, Hogan seized the upper hand with a quickest time of 55.194s (106.90mph). Second place went to Coles Racing’s B4 Group Graduate Cup challenger Dean Smith (Wolverhampton), just 0.060s adrift, while Hohenthal was third. Cheng Cong Fu (Oxford), who is third in the Championship, was fifth fastest. In all, the top 20 drivers lapped within one second of the leader, newcomer Richard Kent in 20th place for Mark Burdett Motorsport.
Another non-Championship driver, Jordan Oakes (Hopton, Norfolk), who currently lies second in the Formula Renault BARC Championship with plans to step up to Formula Renault UK next season, showed his obvious potential with the seventh best time. Welch Motorsport’s Danny Welch was 10th quickest in his first outing of 2006 in the FR2.0 car.
With drivers opting to use new tyres in the three-hour afternoon session, the times plunged by several tenths of a second. Bird, despite using a set of tyres that were not brand new, made the most of the conditions to rise from ninth in the morning to top the timesheets. Metcalfe set his fastest lap of the day on his penultimate flying lap to finish second by the smallest possible margin. Scorpio Motorsport’s David Epton (Fleet, Hants) who crashed in his previous outing at Snetterton, came back strongly to claim third, less than one-tenth of a second behind Bird.
With Hogan in fourth and 2006 race-winner Markus Niemelä (Lincoln) in fifth, Filsell Motorsport’s Matt Howson, who raced in
Formula BMW earlier in the season but is strongly considering a move to
Formula Renault UK in 2007, was seventh quickest, just behind Manor
Motorsport’s Franck Mailleux (Hull).
Dean Smith again led the six Graduate Cup challengers in 10th place,
but only 0.036s separated him from Nexa Racing’s Daniel Roos (Bishop’s
Stortford) and Fortec Motorsport’s Fabio Onidi (Northampton) in 11th
and 12th respectively.
Commenting on his efforts, Bird, who only returned from holiday the day
before the test, said: “After crashing at Donington earlier in the year
I’m one set of tyres down on most other drivers so I had to wait until
late in the session and then put on a set that weren’t completely new,
but reasonably good. Given that, I’m really delighted to be able to do
the sort of times I have today.
“I’m driving with a lot of confidence because of the way things have
been going this year and once again Fortec have given me an
exceptionally quick car so I’d like to thank them. Today will stand me
in really good stead and give me a psychological advantage for when we
come here later in the year and I believe I can win one or even two
races. Winning the Championship may be a long shot but third is
definitely possible and we’ll see what happens from there.”
The next rounds, 15 and 16, form part of the World Series by Renault
meeting at Donington Park Grand Prix circuit on 9th/10th September.
Drivers’ Championship standings after Round 14 - provisional
| Pos. |
Driver |
Nat. |
Team |
Points |
| 1 |
Patrick Hogan |
IRL |
AKA Lemac |
348 |
| 2 |
Sebastian Hohenthal |
SWE |
Fortec Motorsport |
346 |
| 3 |
Cheng Cong Fu |
CHN |
Manor Motorsport |
254 |
| 4 |
James Sutton |
GBR |
Fortec Motorsport |
253 |
| 5 |
Jeremy Metcalfe |
GBR |
AKA Lemac |
242 |
| 6 |
Sam Bird |
GBR |
Fortec Motorsport |
227 |
| B4 Group Graduate Cup Standings after Round 14 – provisional |
| 1 |
Fabio Onidi |
ITA |
Fortec Motorsport |
135 |
| 2 |
Dean Smith |
GBR |
Coles Racing |
132 |
| 3 |
Daniel Roos |
SWE |
Nexa Racing |
115 |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 January 2007 )
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