Up-and-coming British racer Alex Lynn made a dream start to his Formula Renault UK Championship campaign with two wins from two pole positions.

Lynn, 17, was unstoppable in his Fortec Motorsport machine, and the Essex driver now takes the lead of the championship after the first of 10 race weekends.

At the beginning of his second full season of car racing, Lynn teed up his weekend with fastest in Friday’s testing. Then on Saturday morning he set three consecutive laps good enough for pole position for the first race. Later in the day he repeated the trick to take pole for race two.

“I’m really confident with the car and how things are going,” he reflected. “Everything is just going to plan. The whole team is in a really good place at the moment and I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

A terrific first lap in Sunday’s opening race propelled Alex into an instant 1.3-second lead. From that point on he managed the gap to ultra-experienced team-mate Will Stevens, who is starting his third season in Formula Renault, and was 2.4 seconds ahead before backing off on the final lap to bring the car home.

“It wasn’t one of my best starts,” he confessed, “but it was a great first lap and that gave me the gap. I’ve been working on my opening laps on cold tyres during winter testing, and that really paid off today. I’ve just got to carry this on now.”

He did just that later on. Lynn decimated the lap record of his great friend, 2010 Formula Renault UK champion Tom Blomqvist, on the fifth lap of the race. This time highly-rated Cypriot racer Tio Ellinas kept Alex under pressure, but he stayed composed to win by 0.3 seconds.

It completed a stunning weekend for Lynn, the 2010 Formula Renault Graduate Cup and Winter Cup champion, who is a member of the MSA’s Team UK initiative and the British Racing Drivers Club’s SuperStars programme.

“Before the race I knew Tio would be quick and that I had to beat him off the line,” said Alex. “My start wasn’t good again, but nor was Tio’s, and I didn’t make any mistakes so he was never going to pass me. Today has been just fantastic – I’m so glad with my start to the season.”

Fortec Motorsport team manager Russell Dixon, who engineers Lynn’s car, added: “We’re very pleased. It’s a shame he missed out on the fastest lap in the first race but otherwise it was a perfect weekend – we’ll just have to do better next time to get both fastest laps! We’re very pleased – Alex has been a model driver this weekend, very professional, and has done a great job.”

As part of the ultra-popular British Touring Car Championship package, the Formula Renault UK Championship enjoyed live coverage of its second race at Brands Hatch on ITV4 and ITV4 HD, and was streamed live at itv.com/touringcars. The series now moves on to Donington Park, near Derby, for the second round on the weekend of April 16/17.