Alex Lynn took another Graduate Cup victory in the latest round of the Formula Renault UK Championship at Croft in North Yorkshire.
The 16-year-old from Dunmow was part of a hugely entertaining battle that saw him take 10th position overall in his Fortec Motorsport machine.
Lynn then had the disappointment of accidentally activating his pit-lane speed-limiter button in the second race, but charged back to take a superb second fastest race lap overall.
Alex qualified 12th and then 11th for the two races, taking two pole positions in the Graduate Cup for young rookie drivers and lapping only half a second off overall pole position. “It is really difficult,” he said. “I haven’t known anything as close as this, even in my karting days. I’m happy in one way – it’s the closest we’ve been to pole. I’d like to be further up the grid though – that’s where my true pace is.”
Lynn was also fighting to recover his confidence after his massive crash at Oulton Park two weeks ago. “I’m not as confident as I was before Oulton, and there’s definitely time to come from that point of view,” he added.
In the first race, Alex moved up to 11th on the opening lap and then became part of a big battle for eighth, which involved a bump from behind late in the race. He finally moved into the top 10 on the last lap but one. “That was great fun,” he smiled. “My start was really good, but I got tucked in behind someone and had to slot in. Near the end someone tried to pass me, but I hung it around the outside of them for the next corner. I was scared I’d damaged a wing in the collision but it was fine.”
In the second race, Lynn unfortunately ran off the road at the flat-out chicane on the opening lap. “I was pushing really hard and just wanted to get a run on the guy ahead, but I dropped two wheels off the track and that’s all she wrote. My tyres have got flat-spots from hell!”
On the second lap, Lynn set his storming fastest lap, which was beaten only by the race winner, but his bid to recover was scuppered and he finally took 16th position. “The hairpin at Croft is really tight,” he explained. “You have to cross your hands on the steering wheel, and I just hit the pit-lane speed-limiter button. It got stuck on and I took ages to switch it off again.”
There is now a gap in the calendar until the next round, at Snetterton in Norfolk on August 7/8. “There’s a long wait but hopefully I can get back into the rhythm and achieve the results I know I’m capable of,” said Lynn.
Fortec engineer Mark Godwin added: “Alex drove a really good race on Saturday. He was in good company in terms of experienced drivers, but he held his own and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was so important for his confidence to get him back out in the second race at Oulton Park after his accident, and if we hadn’t done that it’s harder for a driver to get back into it. Race two was disappointing but we’re encouraged by his lap time – it shows he’s got good pace at the beginning of a race, when it matters.”
The Formula Renault UK Championship again enjoyed live coverage of its second race at Croft 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.
Each episode can also be viewed through the ITV player on the ITV website - itv.com/catchup - for up to four weeks after the show has been aired.
