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Competition’s Alexander Sims (Peterborough) struck the first blow of the 2008
Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship season by claiming pole
position for round one during qualifying on Saturday, 29th March. CR
Scuderia Formula Renault’s Adam Christodoulou (Lichfield) was fastest in the
second qualifying session to set the grid for round two. Both races take place
on Sunday, 30th March at Brands Hatch Indy circuit.
A rain shower
before qualifying session one meant the majority of drivers began on wet tyres
but by the end of the session a dry line had emerged with the whole field on
slicks. Alpine Motorsport’s Dean Stoneman (Southampton) moved to the top of the
timesheets with six minutes left but was soon headed by both Christodoulou and
Sims.
With just one
minute remaining, enough time for two flying laps of the short 1.20-mile
circuit, CR Scuderia’s Scott Jenkins (Bristol) went quickest with a mark of
44.692s (96.55mph). The first-year driver was almost immediately overtaken by
Sims, who set a best of 44.666s (96.60mph).
Despite the
drying circuit, there was little improvement among the top six drivers on their
final flying laps. Only Fortec Motorsport’s Riki Christodoulou (Sutton
Coldfield) was able to post his best time, 0.014s behind Sims but enough to put
him on the front row. Jenkins held on to third ahead of Apotex Scorpio
Motorsport’s Josh Scott (Loughborough), Adam Christodoulou and CR Scuderia’s
Estonian racer Sten Pentus (Bardon).
Qualifying
session two saw a complete reversal of the weather conditions with a dry track
to begin with but heavy clouds threatening rain. Most drivers were keen to put
in maximum effort in the early laps with Adam Christodoulou posting a lap of
44.083s on his sixth lap out of the pits. On the following lap he shaved 0.002s
off that time, which was enough to give him pole position.
Fortec
Motorsport’s Oli Webb (Knutsford), in his debut season of Formula Renault UK
racing, clinched second place ahead of Stoneman in third. Eurotek Motorsport’s
Jordan Oakes (Hopton) will start fourth, ensuring four different teams occupy
the front two rows of the grid. Fortec’s Adriano Buzaid (Oxford), who could only
muster 11th place in the first session improved to line-up fifth with
Sims alongside in sixth.
Commenting on
the two sessions, Alexander Sims said: “I’m very happy with our pace in the
first session. I think I was the second driver to take the chequered flag
meaning almost everyone else had a chance to improve as the circuit dried
towards the end, so to keep pole position is fantastic. In the afternoon session
we didn’t think the rain would come quite so soon but there’s still a chance to
score good points and it won’t hurt the overall championship at all.”
Pole-sitter for
round two Adam Christodoulou said: “I’m much happier this afternoon and feel
this is where I should have been this morning but for traffic on my quickest
lap. The ideal scenario for me is for rain in the first race and dry conditions
for the second and hopefully I’ll be able to get my first Formula Renault UK win
under my belt tomorrow.”
Round one is
scheduled to start at 10.00 BST with round two at 15.40, both races of 24 laps
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