Alex Lynn equalled the best result of his Formula Renault UK career at the twisty Scottish circuit of Knockhill last weekend to move within touching distance of the Graduate Cup title for young rookie drivers.
The 16-year-old from Essex finished in sixth place in the second of the two races, notching up his second Graduate Cup class win of the day.
It was the most competitive weekend showing yet for Lynn, who ran among the leading bunch overall during qualifying and racing. Sixth on the grid for race one, he improved to fourth fastest for the second race – less than 0.2 seconds from pole position.
“That is genuinely where our pace lies now,” said Lynn on his first visit to the Fife circuit. “The car is capable of winning races every time I’m on the track, and that’s what I’m aiming to do. If I’d matched up my best corner times on the same lap I’d be on the front row, so I’m really pleased with how everything is going.”
Lynn, who less than 12 months ago was a schoolboy karter before only moving into car racing at the end of 2009, maintained his sixth-place grid position at the start of race one. Unfortunately, he was the victim of a tangle ahead of him at the end of lap three. A car spun around in front of Alex, who was unable to avoid it. He visited the pits to replace his damaged front wing, and from then on charged to 12th place, with the fourth-fastest lap of the race.
“My start was pretty good,” he said. “But unfortunately I had nowhere to go in the collision at the hairpin. It just got too crowded there, although my pace was good and we’re looking very strong.”
Lynn made great progress to third at the start of race two, but a small mistake when he ran wide exiting the chicane demoted him to fourth. He looked secure in fourth, but a late safety car bunched the field, and Alex was forced wide at the hairpin and dropped to sixth place when a rival made a very late-braking move.
“When I went off in third that was a silly mistake, but the move at the hairpin was mad. The guy just threw it down the inside and didn’t care about the outcome, but that’s racing, and now I’ve got to look ahead to the next round on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in two weeks’ time. It will be great to race at the home of the British Grand Prix and I’ll be going for my first podium and the Graduate Cup title.”
The Silverstone meeting takes place on September 18/19, and will support the World Series by Renault, a European tour that attracts enormous crowds at each round and features Renault Formula 1 car demonstrations.
The Formula Renault UK Championship again enjoyed live coverage of its second race at Knockhill on ITV4, and was streamed live on itv. 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 - for up to four weeks after the show has been aired.
