Formula Renault UK is set for one it’s most enthralling seasons in years after 32 drivers met the official registration deadline to contest the 2004 championship – giving the series what is believed to be by far the biggest grid in professional UK motorsport.
With just a few available entries remaining and still well over a month to go until the start of the new season, it’s highly likely the Formula Renault UK Championship will see a maximum permitted grid of 36 cars when the series gets underway at Thruxton in Hampshire on 10th/11th April.
Reigning champion team Manor Motorsport will once again field a four-car assault on the title with Formula Renault UK race-winner Paul Di Resta (Bathgate, West Lothian) preparing for his second season of competition in the category.
The 17-year old Scotsman, cousin of Indy racing star Dario Franchitti, will be joined by Team McLaren Mercedes Formula One-backed Cheng Congfu (Cottingham, Hull), 17-year old Josh Weber (Tiverton, Devon) and Irish ace Patrick Hogan (Northampton) at the Sheffield outfit.
Norfolk-based Paston Racing fields a quartet of drivers for the first time in the team’s history with 16-year old sensation Craig Dolby (Melton Mowbray) - a race-winner in the Belgian Formula Renault 1600 category – joined by Venezuelan Rodolfo Gonzalez (Attleborough, Norfolk) and experienced Formula Renault UK pairing Daniel Welch (Fleet, Hampshire) and Ben Reeves (Wimbledon).
Race-winner Mike Conway (Sevenoaks, Kent) returns with Daventry’s Fortec Motorsport as one of the true championship favourites and will be joined by Charles Hollings (Norwood, West Yorkshire) and American Ben Freudenberg.
Current Formula Renault UK Winter Champion Jay Howard (Basildon, Essex) cashes in his prize of a paid-for 2004 registration and will contest the coming season with Norfolk-based Eurotek Motorsport.
Neighbouring team Comtec Racing fields what is likely to prove one of the strongest pairings in this year’s championship with 2002 UK Formula Ford Champion Westley Barber (Wimbish, Saffron Walden) partnering the UK’s top female racing driver, and McLaren Autosport BRDC Award finalist, Scotland’s Susie Stoddart (Northampton).
Team JVA will have three cars on the 2004 grid, the Chesterfield outfit’s title bid led by former karting hot-shoe John Byrne (Magham Down, East Sussex) who made an impressive Formula Renault UK debut last year. His team-mates will be 20-year old Pippa Mann (Saxmundham, Suffolk) – the championship’s second female competitor – and Sean Edwards (Hambleden, Henley-on-Thames).
Team Firstair makes its welcome return to these shores to once again be part of the world’s premier national Formula Renault category following a stint in the USA Formula Renault Championship. The Middlesex-based team will run Irishman James Murphy (Towcester, Northamptonshire) and Canadian Sean McIntosh.
Skegness team Mark Burdett Motorsport will contest the championship with Swedish ace Alex Storckenfeldt and series newcomer Matt Russell (Harlesden, London) while Essex-based Vitulli Racing will field a single car for Michael Vitulli (Rainham).
Turkish driver Jason Tahinci (Bath) returns for another season to partner Stephen Simpson (Enfield, Middlesex) at Batley-based Team JLR while 16-year old former T-Car star James Jakes (Cullingworth) continues in the category following his debut in last November’s Winter Championship with newly-formed Team aka.
Another new addition to the Formula Renault UK grid will be the reigning BARC Formula Renault Champion James Gornall (Werrington, Peterborough) who makes the step-up to the series along with his BARC title-winning JA Motorsport team.
Sheffield’s Hill Speed Racing, meanwhile, will contest the series with a single car for newcomer Stuart Gough (Southport) while Mexican driver Carlos Mastretta will compete with Oxfordshire team Falcon Motorsport.
Chatham-based Motaworld Racing fields a four-car attack on the championship led by ex-Formula Ford rivals Joey Foster (Truro, Cornwall) and Oliver Jarvis (Burwell, Cambridgeshire). They will be joined by Irish youngster Ronayne O’Mahony (Kilcock, Co.Kildare) and David Epton (Fleet, Hampshire).
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