Swedish ace Stefan Soderberg has signed a deal with Hill Speed Racing to make a welcome return to the Formula Renault UK Championship for rounds three and four of the season at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit next weekend – 24th/25th April.

The 20-year old, who hails from Gaule in Sweden, made his Formula Renault UK debut in 2002 before taking a brace of podium finishes last season en route to sixth position overall in the driver standings with Team DFR.

Sheffield-based Hill Speed Racing, meanwhile, was forced to miss the opening meeting of the season at Thruxton after parting company with driver Stuart Gough (Southport) following a difficult pre-season testing programme. Brands Hatch, therefore, will be the team’s first competitive outing of the year.

At this stage Soderberg’s newly agreed deal only covers the double-header rounds at the Kent circuit but Hill Speed Racing team boss Richard Ollerenshaw is hopeful the necessary sponsorship needed to keep the Swede on board for the rest of the season will be found.

Ollerenshaw said: “We’re very happy to have Stefan with us for Brands Hatch and it’ll be good to be out there after having to miss Thruxton. We wanted a driver of Stefan’s calibre and also someone who knows the Formula Renault cars well – he’s the obvious choice.

“This deal will only cover the Brands Hatch rounds and after that we’ll have to see what happens in terms of sponsorship, but we’d like to retain Stefan for the remainder of the season if possible. We’re also talking to drivers regarding our second car and it’s possible we could have that registered in time for Silverstone (8th/9th May).”

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