For the fourth official pre-season test in succession, Fortec Motorsport’s Mike Conway (Sevenoaks, Kent) has set the standard after lapping the 2.1 mile Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire a full second inside the previous best held by reigning champion Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton set a record time of 1m 17.427 seconds in testing last year but with the new aerodynamic package and engine improvements continuing to impress, Conway set a new benchmark time of 1m 16.435 seconds (100.17mph) on day one of the test to go a massive seven 10ths quicker than his nearest challenger.
On day two, however, Team JVA’s John Byrne (Magham Down, East Sussex) broke the Conway stranglehold by lapping in 1m 16.628 seconds to set the fastest time of the day and also go second overall on the combined timesheets.
Comtec Racing’s Westley Barber kept up his great form with the third fastest overall time but still ended up a full six 10ths down on Conway’s best while Motaworld’s Joey Foster (Truro, Cornwall) and Oliver Jarvis (Burwell, Cambridgeshire) were almost inseparable again by lapping within just over a 100th of each other to go fourth and fifth respectively.
Fortec’s Stuart Hall (Halstead, Essex) was an impressive sixth fastest with a lap of 1m 17.202 seconds, seven 1,000ths faster than Manor Motorsport’s lead driver Paul Di Resta (Bathgate, West Lothian). Alex Storckenfeldt was then a shade behind the Scotsman in eighth for Mark Burdett Motorsport.
Ninth position overall went to Fortec’s Charles Hollings (Norwood, West Yorkshire) – a lap of 1m 17.351 seconds still placing him inside the old lap record – while Manor’s Patrick Hogan (Whitfield, Northamptonshire) rounded out the top 10.
The Irishman finished just ahead of Chinese team-mate Cheng Congfu who himself was marginally quicker than Team JLR’s Stephen Simpson (Enfield, Middlesex). Manor’s Josh Weber (Tiverton, Devon) was 13th fastest while Comtec Racing’s Susie Stoddart (Northampton) managed a best lap of 1m 17.678 seconds to end the test 14th overall.
Snetterton in Norfolk hosts the final day of pre-season testing next Wednesday, 31st March, before the 2004 Formula Renault UK Championship season gets into full swing at Thruxton, Hampshire, a week later.
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