Bratt Outpaces Chief Rival Keen In Croft Test
Adderbury-based Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin driver Will Bratt declared himself ‘relatively happy’ this afternoon at the conclusion of official testing for the weekend’s ninth and 10th rounds of the season at Croft Circuit.The 2.12-mile North Yorkshire venue isn’t one of Will’s preferred tracks but his pace in testing saw him end the three hour, 25 minute session with a best lap a full four 10ths of a second faster than his main rival, B4 Group Graduate Cup points leader Richard Keen.Will’s time of 1m 19.186 seconds (96.69mph) placed him 17th overall of the 25 drivers taking part in the session, only eight 10ths of a second slower than outright pacesetter Alex Storckenfeldt. Encouragingly, Will was also just two 10ths of a second shy of 2003 UK Formula Ford Champion Tom Kimber-Smith in 16th position.Commenting on the test, Will said: “It was quite a weird session in all honesty as we were about 10th quickest during the early part of the test when the car didn’t feel as good, so I was surprised to be so high up the order.“Then we started hitting a brick wall and were unable to get any more speed out of the car. We struggled with too much under-steer again, which is a recurring problem, and if we can just sort this out I’m sure we’d be able to unlock perhaps another half a second in terms of speed from the car.“I’m a little disappointed with 17th position but to be four 10ths of a second quicker than Richard (Keen) is a good result and we’re relatively happy with that. We just have to wait and see if we can get to the bottom of the under-steer issues before qualifying on Saturday.”Having achieved his best results of the season last month at Oulton Park Island Circuit during the seventh and eighth rounds of the year, Will is keen to keep up the momentum at Croft this weekend.At present he is in second position in the B4 Group Graduate Cup standings, nine points adrift of Keen, while in the overall Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin, Will is currently in 15th place out of 29 drivers.Qualifying for the ninth and 10th rounds of the 2005 Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin takes place at Croft Circuit on Saturday, 16th July, with both races scheduled for Sunday, 17th July.
