Brands Hatch Indy Circuit provided an exciting opening two rounds of Formula Renault UK Winter Championship action with Adderbury’s Will Bratt celebrating a best ever result of sixth position following a terrific drive in round one.The 17-year-old, who ended the main 2005 season as Graduate Cup Vice-Champion, was relatively disappointed after qualifying in 11th position for the race but a determined performance in tricky, damp conditions saw him break into the top six for the first time in his short single-seater career.Round one was red flagged almost immediately when Richard Keen collided with team-mate Markus Niemela after the latter stalled on the gird. The re-start, however, saw Will move into eighth position on the opening lap.A Safety Car period began on lap three when Fabio Onidi spun off the circuit on the run down from Paddock Hill Bend, but when racing resumed on lap six Will started to increase the pressure on seventh-placed Cheng Congfu.Dutchman Mervyn Kool intervened in the battle after passing Will on lap seven and then Cheng on lap 10, but an unforced error by the Dutchman on the exit of Graham Hill Bend on the 13th lap proved to be of double benefit to Will.Not only did it automatically promote him a place to eighth position, Will also produced a great move on Cheng to retake seventh place. Then, as the field headed into Paddock Hill Bend on the 19th and final lap, Will made yet another place after taking sixth position from Bradley Ellis to earn 18 very healthy championship points.Not only did Will disprove the theory overtaking in a Formula Renault UK car is near impossible round the tight and twisty Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, his result on the slippery surface was all the more impressive considering his Scorpio Motorsport car was running more of a ‘dry’ set-up, thinking circuit conditions would improve during the race. “To finish sixth was a great result for us and I think we had a really good race”, explained Will, “That’s especially the case considering we had the car set-up leaning more towards dry conditions, it did make things more difficult.“I was very good through Paddock Hill Bend and we were good through Druids too, but I struggled through the left-hand corners such as Graham Hill Bend – the car was sliding away from me quite a lot. Even so, I was pretty competitive.“Towards the end, (Bradley) Ellis went wide at Paddock Hill Bend, (Dennis) Retera moved to the inside but then both went wide so I saw my opportunity and took it to get sixth place.”

Unfortunately, round two wasn’t as fruitful with Will forced into retirement at Druids Hairpin on the final lap having sustained damage to his car a lap earlier during an altercation at Graham Hill Bend.Having originally lost ground from eighth on the grid, he did claw his way back up the order before starting to pressurise seventh-placed Retera during the closing stages of the race. Sadly, though, it wasn’t to be.“There was a lot of contact and I sustained some damage to my suspension which was the eventual cause of me coming off at Druids – I turned in for the corner but the car just went straight on. I must have been hit by at least three other cars at different points during the race; some of the driving out there was pretty crazy.”From sixth in the championship standings after the opening round, Will now heads to Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire sharing 12th position in the title race with Finn Markus Niemela and Portugal’s Joao Vasconcelos.The third and fourth rounds of the 2005 Formula Renault UK Winter Championship will take place on Saturday, 12th November, with official testing to be held on Thursday, 10th November, and ‘free practice’ set to take place on Friday, 11th November.