Arriving at the 1.45-mile track on Wednesday, 13th August, the British-born
Bahraini lapped in approximately 55.4 seconds in dry conditions and 59.8 seconds
in the wet over the course of the two days.
Around four 10ths of a second faster than the dry pole position qualifying
time set when Formula Renault BARC last competed at Pembrey back in 2006,
Menasheh performed faultlessly on Wednesday and Thursday to the delight of his
driver coach, British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Rising Star Matt
Shawyer.
“The two days at Pembrey went very well indeed”, commented Shawyer, “With
half the test being dry and the other half wet, it was very useful and provided
a good opportunity for us to try a lot of different things. It was a very
productive couple of days”.
Today, Friday, 15th August, Menasheh travelled with the Hillspeed team to
Brands Hatch Indy Circuit in Kent. Gaining more vital test mileage and
knowledge, the Gulfol, Ortolan and Gulf Computer Services backed racer’s
preparations for the 10th round of the season at Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire
three weeks from now continue to go well.
Although not quite as rapid as the last time he tested at Brands Hatch,
largely due to the volume of Formula Jedi cars sharing the test day, the
17-year-old posted a best time of 46.6 seconds and, once again, worked with the
Hillspeed team on a variety of different settings with the car.
Shawyer added: “Menasheh drove well at Brands and although the lap times
weren’t as quick as the last time we visited, that was purely down to the track
conditions. There were a lot of Formula Jedi cars out there, running on Avon
rubber, and so that didn’t help Menasheh on Michelins. It was still a productive
day though and he did very well.”
With the next round of the 2008 Formula Renault BARC Championship still
three weeks away, Menasheh is expected to continue his testing programme in due
course.
Provisional 2008 Formula Renault BARC Championship Standings (after
Rd9):
1st Ollie Hancock, 117pts; 2nd Johannes Seidlitz, 71pts;
4th Menasheh Idafar, 61pts
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