Manor Competition made its fifth podium visit of the 2008 Formula Renault
UK Championship season at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire on Sunday, 1st June,
with Alexander Sims racing to a very competitive second place result for the New
OIlerton based team.
Moving the 20-year-old into the top three in the driver standings, his
fourth rostrum finish of the campaign came during a fairly processional ninth
round of the season which took place on a drying track after earlier heavy
rain.
Team-mate Kris Loane has also risen one place up the championship table
into fifth spot after a solid eighth position finish while Tom Armour gained
four positions from his grid slot of 15th to match his previous best result of
11th place – a very encouraging drive in difficult conditions.
Qualifying second on the grid, Sims made a good start from the front row
and although he was never more than a few 10ths of a second adrift of the tail
of race leader Adam Christodoulou throughout the 15 lap race, he had to settle
for the runner-up spot just half a second shy at the chequered flag.
Loane’s race was similar in many ways, the 20-year-old never quite able to
force a mistake from the car ahead and he too ended the race in his starting
position, eighth, just five 10ths of a second behind James Calado.
Armour made up four places on the opening lap before gaining another
position on lap seven when Adriano Buzaid spun off out of ninth spot at Sunny
In. Although slipping back to 11th on lap 11, the result was still a welcome
boost for the 18-year-old.
For Henry Surtees, his race lasted mere yards when contact from Ryuji
Yamamoto on the entry to Clervaux forced both cars into retirement. Having
qualified in 11th place, less than seven 10ths of a second off pole position,
hopes were high for the 17-year-old to achieve his fourth top 10 of the
campaign.
“Second place was the best result we could realistically have hoped for so
we’re pretty happy with that”, said Manor Competition team boss Tony Shaw,
“Alexander did a great job to keep the leader under pressure. Kris was in very
much the same position, it was quite processional and without a big mistake from
someone a pass was very tough.
“Tom raced well, he continues to improve at every event, and Henry’s
accident was just one of those unfortunate things at a corner like Clervaux. All
in all we’re fairly happy with how things turned out in the end.”
Due to restrictions imposed on the race schedule due to the poor weather,
the 10th round of the Formula Renault UK season wasn’t able to be held yesterday
and a decision is awaited from series officials to see when, if at all, the race
will take place.
Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit awaits Manor next
weekend
There are just a few days to wait until the next event
of the 2008 Formula Renault UK season, rounds 11 and 12 at Silverstone Grand
Prix Circuit on 7th/8th June.
Supporting the UK round of sister championship World Series by Renault at
the home of the British Grand Prix, qualifying for the 11th and 12th rounds of
the campaign will take place during one 25-minute session at 13.05 on Saturday,
31st May.
Both races will follow on Sunday, 1st June, with round 11 getting underway
at around 09.00 and round 12 expected to commence at 16.45.
Before then, Manor Competition’s quartet of Formula Renault UK racers will
be in action on Thursday, 5th June, at Silverstone during official pre-event
testing.
Provisional 2008 Formula Renault UK Championship Driver Standings
(after Rd9)
3rd Alexander Sims, 189pts; 5th Kris Loane, 136pts; 13th
Henry Surtees, 77pts; 18th Tom Armour, 52pts
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