Alex Lynn showed strength of character in adversity to take ninth position in the latest round of the Formula Renault UK Championship at Oulton Park in Cheshire, after not one but two substantial accidents.
The 16-year-old from Dunmow dislocated his right knee in a crash during the official test on Friday which was fixed by a circuit doctor before Lynn got out of the car. He was then battling for seventh place in Saturday’s race when a rival left him with no space on track and he spectacularly rolled out of the race, destroying his car. Using the Fortec Motorsport team’s spare car, he was able to race to ninth in race two on Sunday.
Alex took a strong seventh on the grid for race one, and was tenth fastest in qualifying for race two. “It was a good comeback from yesterday,” he said. “My grid position for race one was good, and I was pleased with the lap. In the second session I struggled to get my lap together. I was pretty quick but made a mistake at the exit of Druids Bend – even though I was off the power for half a second more than usual I matched my best time, so that should have been a good lap.”
Lynn made progress into sixth at the start of Saturday’s race, but made a small mistake and lost two places, one of which was to Graduate Cup rival Fabio Gamberini, at Old Hall Corner on lap two.
He then settled into the race and had just set the fastest lap at two-thirds distance when Gamberini, ahead of him, made a mistake at Old Hall. Alex went for a move but was launched into a scary roll, landing upside down after rolling several times.
“I’m not particularly happy with Fabio,” he said. “He made a carbon copy of my mistake on lap two, but whereas I gave him room he didn’t give me anything and drove straight across the track into me. It was going so well until then – I was really quick.”
Despite never having driven Fortec’s spare car, Lynn drove well in race two. He was tenth early on but eventually made up a place to finish ninth, right on the tail of Gamberini. “I was in a four-way battle the whole race,” he said. “I managed to get past one and it was a good race. It was particularly good to be back on track, and a testament to how hard the team worked. I’m learning all the time out there.”
Fortec Team Manager Dave Moore said: “A lot of drivers would have got flustered or rattled by what happened to Alex, especially after going off in testing at such a fast corner as Cascades. I’m so impressed with how mature and upbeat he has been all weekend. The accidents haven’t fazed him one little bit.”
Lynn retains his lead in the Graduate Cup for young rookie drivers, and the Formula Renault UK teams now move onto Croft in North Yorkshire for the next round on June 19/20.
The Formula Renault UK Championship again enjoyed live coverage of its second race at Oulton Park on ITV4, and was streamed live on itv.com. Action will be shown in the Motorsport UK series, with two repeats each week on ITV4 and one on ITV1. A further showing will be made on the Men & Motors channel. The Motorsport UK audience figure for Formula Renault UK in 2009 was 4,750,000.
