Team Firstair’s Richard Singleton starred in the Formula Renault Eurocup round at Silverstone on Sunday to finish fourth – less than a second behind the race winner – on just his third single-seater race outing in two years.
The Welshman proved the competitiveness of the team, which returned to Formula Renault in 2010 after a four-year absence, and added to the sixth place he had taken in Saturday’s race.
Singleton qualified fourth for the first race, but lost out in the early battling and slipped to sixth. He was one of the fastest drivers on track in the closing laps, but could not progress up the order.
In the second race, for which he had qualified sixth, Singleton rose to fourth on the opening lap. He then moved up into third place, and set what was the fastest lap of the race to that point as he chased down the leaders. While trying to slipstream his way into second, he was left vulnerable to attack and slipped to fourth in a race that thrilled the 75,000-strong crowd. The man who leapfrogged Singleton in a breathtaking move was Luciano Bacheta, who had made a one-off appearance with Firstair last time out in Formula Renault UK, but was back with his usual Eurocup team this weekend.
“In the first race I was a little bit slow in the first half, and that meant it was too late to challenge,” said Singleton. “In the quick stuff I was fine, but I picked up a lot of understeer in the slow corners. But it was a good race and I enjoyed it – and really it was my first proper race in Formula Renault since 2008, because of the problems we’ve had with the car up to now.
“In the second it was good early on. Once I got up to third I reeled them in, but at three-quarters distance my tyres went off and I was struggling. Also, my fire extinguisher started leaking with a few laps to go and I was choking for the last few laps! But it was a great race and it feels so good to be back.”
The team also ran Dutchman Liroy Stuart, who has been competing this season in the Formula Renault North European Cup. Unfortunately, Stuart had his times deleted in qualifying due to failing to see the red light at the end of the pit lane. In race one, he charged through from the back of the grid to finish 15th in a hectic battle, while in the second he surpassed that to take an excellent 12th.
“I had to go off track to avoid people spinning in the first race and that cost me three places,” he said. “But I’m pleased with the pace, especially as I had just a short time in the car before we went into qualifying.
“In the second race I made up 12 places – so that’s half the field! I was a bit faster than the guys in front and proved that if I know the track I can be a front-runner.”
The team enjoyed engineering expertise from Andy Welch, who formerly engineered Firstair to race victories in Fran-Am, including the 2003 Canadian Grand Prix support race, and worked with Sean McIntosh when he finished runner-up in the ’05 Renault UK title race.
Team Firstair principal Ian Barnwell said: “It was a good, solid performance by the team, and it proved that our cars are good. We’ve been limited on testing and driver continuity this season, but we feel that we’ve turned a corner this weekend and there’s no reason why we can’t build on this and go on to better things.”
The Formula Renault Eurocup round was part of the World Series by Renault, a hugely popular European tour. It attracted 125,000 spectators over the two days.
