Alex Lynn completed a hat-trick of wins in the Formula Renault UK Championship at Donington Park last Sunday morning.
The 17-year-old from Essex followed up his double win in the opening round at Brands Hatch with his third victory of the 2011 Formula Renault UK season. He followed that up when he crossed the finish line second in the later race.
Lynn and the Fortec Motorsport team worked hard to fix his car after technical problems that affected his steering in Thursday’s test session. He bounced back to take a clear pole position for race one. “We worked through everything as a team, and it’s been hard work to get such a fantastic result,” he said. “It was a good lap – I don’t think I missed much out!”
Second qualifying was when Lynn’s perfect pole record this season came to an end, as he was edged out in a close battle with closest rival Tio Ellinas. “I’m still pretty happy,” said Alex. “Tio is quick and it was only a matter of time until he beat me. Two front-row starts is a great result, and the difference in time between us comes down to the tiniest of details.”
In the first race, Lynn held Ellinas at bay over the first half before really putting the hammer down at mid-distance to break the Cypriot’s challenge That was despite a bolt falling out of Alex’s engine cover, causing it to flap in the very late stages of the race and costing him a small amount of straight-line speed.
“I had a strong start and then a good race to withstand the pressure,” he said. “Halfway through Tio was all over me, so I just pushed as hard as I could for three laps to pull away. I wasn’t too worried about the engine cover – I knew I could peg things back and control the race at that point.”
In the second race, Alex slashed into Ellinas’s lead in the late stages, but there was no way to make a successful move without taking an unacceptable risk. “It’s nice to race a competitor who you know will make you step up a level,” said Lynn. “I tried really hard but there wasn’t anywhere to overtake. Early on I had to look in my mirrors in case of a challenge from the guys behind, but once I got my head down we were the fastest on the track.”
Unfortunately, Lynn discovered his efforts were in vain after the race when a small technical issue on two of the Fortec Motorsport team’s cars, including Alex’s, was found to narrowly contravene the regulations. The two cars were excluded, although Fortec has appealed the decision. For now, Lynn has lost his championship lead and dropped to second place, but with 16 races over eight weekends remaining there is still plenty to play for.
“I’m upset about this as I feel it made no difference, and it’s something outside my control,” said Alex. “But these things happen in motorsport. All it means is that I’ve got to put it behind me and do the best job I can from the next race, and hopefully win again.”
Fortec Motorsport team manager Russell Dixon said: “Alex had another great weekend on the track. He had only done one test day at Donington before this week, and otherwise had no experience of the track. So he did a really good job, especially after problems in testing that restricted him to about 10 flying laps. We changed the car a lot but he just got quicker and quicker. It was a very good performance. The problem after the second race is frustrating but I am quite clear that there was no performance advantage to be had. I am confident that we will bounce back at Thruxton in two weeks’ time.”
As part of the ultra-popular British Touring Car Championship package, the Formula Renault UK Championship enjoyed live coverage of its second race at Donington Park on ITV4 and ITV4 HD, and was streamed live at itv.com/touringcars. The series now moves on to Thruxton in Hampshire for the third round on the weekend of April 30/May 1.
