In his first full season of car racing, 17-year-old Essex racer Lynn won the 2010 Formula Renault Graduate Cup for young rookie drivers, then took his first three outright race wins on his way to claiming the Formula Renault Winter Cup title. He kept active by contesting the highly-competitive Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand, in which he claimed a race win against an experienced international field.
Pre-season Formula Renault testing has gone extremely well with Alex first or second at seven of the eight test days.
Alex, who remains with Fortec Motorsport, said: “We wanted to put ourselves in this situation and I’m happy and confident that we can be competitive straightaway. I’ve got faith in myself and the team, and the car’s performance is really good.
“Since this time last year, when I was getting set for my first season, the car has improved massively and my driving has been brought onto a whole new level. The car is set up exactly right for me, and every little part of the team has got a lot better.”
Lynn also sees only positives in being paired with hotly-tipped karting graduate Oliver Rowland within the Fortec stable – both are being engineered this season by team manager Russell Dixon.
“We are working really well together,” he said. “We push each other on and, because we’ve got the same engineer, we can talk a lot about the set-up of the car.”
A huge morale boost for Lynn has come in the form of his being selected to be a member of Team UK, (the scheme for talented young racers operated by British motorsport’s governing body, the MSA), as well as being chosen for the British Racing Drivers Club’s exclusive SuperStars programme.
Alex will also spend time with Fortec’s team for the junior-level Formula Renault BARC series, where he will act as driver coach. “It’s good to give something back to Fortec and it’s nice to have a job at the age of 17!” he said.
Fortec team owner Richard Dutton said: “Alex has really come on and he should have a very good year. He’s growing all the time. I’m very pleased with his progress and he’ll be hard to beat.”
Lynn added: “I’m really looking forward to it all kicking off and getting under way.”
The Formula Renault UK Championship again forms part of the hugely popular British Touring Car Championship package, which as well as attracting the best trackside audiences for domestic racing enjoys live coverage of many of its races on ITV4. This will include this Sunday’s second race at 1605, following on from the opening race at 1025
