Raoul Owens is confident of mounting a challenge for his first podium finish in the ultra-competitive Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (NEC) when the category visits Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium next weekendFriday, 26th July, and Saturday, 27th July.
Following a very long eight-week break from racing since the previous event at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit, where the British 18-year-old was in contention for rostrum success at his home track, he cant wait to be back behind the wheel of his Renault-powered FR 2.0.
Driving for Mark Burdett Motorsport in his maiden season of pan-European action, Raoul has made significant progress and has quickly become a consistent front-runner in one of the most fiercely contested championships on the single-seater ladder.
Although suffering more than his share of misfortune up to now, limiting him to 19th position in the standings out of 42 competitors ahead of the Spa races, the pace and race-craft has been clear to see and his first trip to the podium is, surely, only a matter of time.
Its been a really long break since Silverstone so I cant wait to be back racing, especially at such a fantastic track as Spa, said the Bright Spark Ventures-backed driver, We were unlucky not to get on the podium last time out but our race pace was great, and we made some big improvements in qualifying too. Looking back on the steps we made, Im pretty confident for next weekend.
Unlike some of the circuits visited so far this season, Cape Town-domiciled Raoul heads to Spa with experience of the famous Ardennes forest track from his competitive debut in Formula Renault 2.0 NEC last October where he secured a strong points finish on his first ever visit.
He also enjoyed a very successful test there last month, added to similarly positive test outings at Zandvoort in The Netherlands and the Anglesey and Pembrey circuits in Wales, meaning he will go into rounds eight and nine of the season with confidence running high.
The testing we did in June went really well, everything ran according to plan and we completed all the work we set out to do, said Raoul, Im really looking forward to the second half of the season, were going to make a big push to try and finish the season in the championship top six.
Everything is going great within the team, all the guys are fantastic and are working really hard on the car and also with my driving. Im having a great time working with my race engineer Andy Miller and driver coach Robbie Kerr, theyre both helping me make some big strides forward.
The weekends eighth and ninth rounds of the championship will run as support to one of Europes biggest motor racing spectacles, the Total 24 Hours of Spa, therefore meaning pre-event practice for Formula Renault 2.0 NEC will take place on Thursday, 25th July.
Qualifying is scheduled for 11.40 (local time) on Friday, 26th July, with the first race of the weekend set to commence at 15.40 (local time). On Saturday, 27th July, round nine will get underway at 09.45 (local time).
