Conway Celebrates 21st Birthday By Setting Fastest Time In Brands Test - 19/08/04
Championship leader Mike Conway (Sevenoaks, Kent) celebrated his 21st birthday in the best possible way at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit today by setting the fastest time in official Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin testing.
Ahead of the weekend’s 15th and 16th rounds of the season at his local track, Conway lapped the 1.2-mile circuit with a best time of 44.712 seconds (98.72mph) to top the timesheets for his Fortec Motorsport team.
Team aka’s James Jakes (Cullingworth, West Yorkshire) was second fastest, and also the top ‘Graduate Cup’ runner, with a time 0.143 seconds shy of the quickest time, while Conway’s main title rival Westley Barber (Wimbish, Saffron Walden) was third for Comtec Racing just two 100ths slower than Jakes.
Manor Motorsport’s Paul Di Resta (Bathgate, West Lothian), off the back of his first win of the season at his home circuit, Knockhill, two weeks ago, set the fourth fastest time of 44.924 seconds, a 10th of a second ahead of Fortec’s Charles Hollings (Norwood, West Yorkshire) who’ll be looking to add to the Brands Hatch podium he took earlier in the year.
Swedish star Alex Storckenfeldt, who is still suffering the effects of a broken collarbone sustained in a karting collision at Knockhill, was a highly creditable sixth fastest for Mark Burdett Motorsport, just under three 100ths ahead of Manor’s Patrick Hogan (Whitfield, Northamptonshire).
Susie Stoddart (Northampton), who’ll be aiming to repeat the double-podium form she showed during rounds three and four of the season at Brands Hatch, set the eighth fastest time for Comtec while Turkish driver Jason Tahinci (Bath, Avon) enjoyed his most competitive showing for Team JLR with a lap of 45.106 seconds placing him ninth overall.
Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Rodolfo Gonzalez (Attleborough, Norfolk), meanwhile, was an impressive 10th fastest ahead of Motaworld Racing’s Oliver Jarvis (Burwell, Cambridgeshire) in 11th position and Team Firstair’s Sean McIntosh in 12th place overall.
Series newcomer Daniel Clarke (Maidenhead, Berkshire) set a best time of 45.500 seconds, ending the four-hour session in 21st position for Team JLR, as the top 26 of the 30 cars taking part in the test were all covered by less than a second.
Qualification and the races for rounds 15 and 16 of the 2004 Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin take place at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit in Kent on Saturday, 21st August, and Sunday, 22nd August.
