Nothing Between Graduate Cup Runners In Testing

Will Bratt left Snetterton Circuit on Tuesday with a positive mindset ahead of the upcoming 11th and 12th rounds of the Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin, despite his test session at the Norfolk venue being blighted by car troubles.The 17-year old Scorpio Motorsport ace, from Adderbury in Oxon, ended the day with the 19th quickest time of the 27 competitors who took part. However, his position on the timesheets wasn’t at all indicative of his true pace due to problems with the rear of the car and then gear selection difficulties later in the afternoon session.His best lap of 1m 06.158 seconds (106.21mph), bearing in mind the aforementioned car issues, saw Will conclude the test with a time just a 10th of a second slower than his main rival for B4 Group Graduate Cup honours, Richard Keen.So, when the Formula Renault UK field reconvenes at Snetterton for the 11th and 12th rounds of the season in just over a week’s time, confidence is high in the Bratt camp Will can comfortably qualify within the higher end of the top 20 and almost certainly inside the top 15.“We’re pretty happy with the way things turned out in the end”, said Will. “Our position on the timesheets doesn’t look great but to be so close to the tight bunch of drivers ahead of us shows that without our problems, we’d have been much higher.“I think our true pace would have put us somewhere comfortably inside the top 15 as after struggling with problems on the rear of the car, which we didn’t discover for quite a while, several laps on new tyres towards the end were squandered when we had problems with the gear-shift.“We’ve certainly improved since the last time we were at Snetterton though which is obviously very positive and I think it’s going to be close when we come to qualifying at Snetterton the weekend after next. I’m definitely looking forward to it and it could well turn out to be our best meeting of the year so far.”The competitiveness of Formula Renault UK continues to be underlined as during yesterday’s test, Will’s fastest lap was only half a second outside the best achieved by current Formula Renault UK series leader Oliver Jarvis in 12th place. Top of the timesheets was Canada’s Sean McIntosh with a time of 1m 04.949 seconds.At present, Will is in second position in the B4 Group Graduate Cup standings while in the overall Formula Renault UK driver table he’s in 16th place. Qualifying for the 11th and 12th rounds of the 2005 Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin is scheduled for Saturday, 6th August, with both races on Sunday, 7th August.Will Bratt Championship Position:

B4 Group Graduate Cup Class – 2nd overallFormula Renault UK Championship with Michelin – 16th overall