CANADIAN Sean McIntosh (Coquitlam, British Columbia) is confident he can turn his test-day speed into race pace at Snetterton in 11 days time for rounds 11 and 12 of the Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin
The 20-year-old was consistently fastest in yesterday’s test at the Norfolk circuit but the gap to second-place Alex Storckenfeldt (Ljungskile, Sweden) was just 0.067s.
Storckenfeldt won both races at Croft earlier this month for Team AKA, living up to the high expectations which preceded him before the season’s start. But that does not worry McIntosh.
“It’s always close in this championship,” said the Team Firstair driver. “If you can get a gap of a tenth of a second it’s quite good. You’ve just got to focus on your own thing.
“The car was good right from the get go. The times were very consistent and I was able to run quicker than most people almost all the time.”
But Storckenfeldt says his rival should not get too comfortable. “We should be able to go quicker,” said the 20-year-old, who led the field by six seconds in round nine at Croft. “We’ve tried a lot of things and I’m happy with the qualifying and race set up. I hope to repeat Croft but you never know. We don’t know what the conditions will be like.”
Storckenfeldt’s teammate, Ben Hanley (Ramsbottom, Bury) only started racing cars earlier this season, with his UK debut at Croft earlier this month. There he finished tenth and 11th, being awarded driver of the day for passing four cars in round ten. Yesterday’s test saw him finish a respectable eighth on the time sheet but the 20-year-old, who has impressed on the international karting circuits, says he will not be satisfied until he is at the front of the field.
“You always get better and better,” said Hanley, who is also competing in the Italian Formula Renault championship where he is placed third overall. “In the testing before the last race we were 11th and now we’re eighth. It’s a step forward. It’s all experience. The more I can get in the first year of racing the better.”
Another new starter was Sarah Playfair (North Berwick, Scotland). The 20-year-old tried out a RSR Engineering car with a view to racing next year, either in the UK or abroad. She improved greatly throughout the day but finished two seconds off the pace. “It’s a big step up from Formula Ford, which is what I’ve been doing,” said Playfair, who was named the Scottish Young Driver of the Year in 2004. “But I’m bloody minded and determined. I don’t feel any different from the lads when I’m out there. When I was younger people used to make comparisons but as you get older people realise that it’s two arms and two legs.”
Championship leader Oliver Jarvis (Burwell, Cambridgeshire) finished in 12th place, but was just two tenths off the fastest time.
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