Oulton Park Island Circuit’s year-old Formula Renault UK lap record has been bettered by a full 1.3 seconds in official testing as Fortec Motorsport’s Mike Conway (Sevenoaks) continued his domination of the pre-season.

For the third test on the bounce Conway headed the timesheets, his best lap of 1m 19.011 seconds (101.42mph) coming during the second day of back-to-back testing round the 2.22 mile Cheshire circuit. The 20-year old also set the pace during day one with a lap of 1m 19.699 seconds.

Team Firstair’s Canadian ace Sean McIntosh underlined his impressive credentials by setting the second fastest time, 0.257 adrift of Conway, while Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Alex Storckenfeldt was less than a 10th behind McIntosh in third with a lap of 1m 19.322 seconds.

Manor Motorsport’s Paul Di Resta (Bathgate, West Lothian) and Comtec Racing’s Westley Barber (Wimbish, Saffron Walden), meanwhile, were very evenly matched – both drivers setting an identical quickest lap of 1m 19.329 seconds to be classified fourth and fifth fastest respectively.

Joey Foster (Truro, Cornwall) was sixth, over half a second ahead of Motaworld Racing team-mate Oliver Jarvis (Burwell, Cambridgeshire) in seventh, while Team Firstair’s James Murphy (Towcester, Northamptonshire) finished eighth overall after just shading Eurotek Motorsport’s Brazilian star Rubens Carrapatoso into ninth place.

Fortec Motorsport’s Charles Hollings (Norwood, West Yorkshire) rounded out the top 10 with a time of 1m 19.880 seconds just ahead of team-mate Stuart Hall (Halstead, Essex) in 11th and Team JVA’s John Byrne (Magham Down, East Sussex) who was classified 12th overall.

Team JLR’s Stephen Simpson was next with a time of 1m 20.002 seconds – less than a second covering the top 13 drivers – while reigning Formula Renault UK Winter Champion Jay Howard (Basildon, Essex) was 14th fastest just a 100th of a second faster than Manor Motorsport’s Chinese driver Cheng Congfu.

Official Formula Renault UK Championship testing continues at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire on Wednesday, 24th March, and Thursday, 25th March.

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