British racing driver Alex Walker has signed with Fortec Motorsport to race in Rounds 15 and 16 of the Formula Renault UK Championship at Rockingham, Northamptonshire next weekend.Having impressed in his debut car racing season in the InterSteps Championship, where he still is in contention for the title with three races to go at Croft, the 16-year-old from Oldham is looking forward to making his first appearance in the Formula Renault UK Championship, following in the footsteps of Formula One World Champions Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen.Supporting the ever-popular British Touring Car Championship, crowds as large as 15,000 are expected to attend the meeting and Sunday's racing action will also benefit from live TV coverage on ITV4 from 11.30am-6.00pm.Alex Walker:"This is a great opportunity for me to develop what I have learnt in my first season of car racing and I'm very thankful to Fortec Motorsport for giving me the chance to show what I can do this weekend. They are a leading team and Formula Renault is where I want to be next season so this presents me with the perfect platform to gain more valuable experience which will put me in good stead for next year."You only have to look at the names in Formula One that have come from Formula Renault to see that it is an excellent launching pad for the future stars of the sport, and the fact that the races will support the British Touring Cars and receive live TV coverage provides great commercial opportunities for my sponsors too."The InterSteps Championship bridges the big gap between karting and Formula Renault and I've taken in a lot so far this season. I'm still fully focused on the final three races at Croft where I will be giving it everything I've got to take the championship."In the meantime my attention turns to next weekend at Rockingham where I will be out to do the best for myself and the team. Fortec are leading the championship, and I have absolutely no doubt in their capabilities and experience, so I'm really excited to be part of the team and racing in front of a big crowd again."Richard Dutton: Team Principle, Fortec Motorsport:"Alex is having a really good season in InterSteps and he is growing all the time as a driver, so we are very excited to welcome him into our Formula Renault UK squad."He is making rapid progress and has proven his raw speed so it was the natural progression as we look to extend our relationship beyond this season."It's good to have such talent, not only for us as a team but also for the championship, and we are very much looking forward to bringing Alex into the next stage of his career."

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