Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup team Mark Burdett Motorsport made a welcome return to competitive action during the final event of the season at Hockenheim over the weekend, 3rd/4th October, where series rookie David Droux impressed on his maiden outing in the category.
Having been away from the NEC series for the past three race meetings, the British outfit returned to the grid in Germany for the championship concluding triple-header after agreeing a late deal with Swiss youngster Droux.
Delivering an impressive account of himself, and confirming the competitiveness of the Lincolnshire team, the graduate of French Formula 4 achieved a best result of 12th position in the first race on Saturday and almost matched it in the wet second contest on Sunday morning. Despite being forced to retire from the final encounter after opening lap contact, overall Droux enjoyed a notable debut.
“I was impressed with David’s approach to the weekend, with no testing at Hockenheim he did a professional job and improved each session and worked well with the team”, said team principal Mark Burdett, “David is a talented driver and with a structured testing program over the winter he can be running at the front in 2016.”Hitting the ground running with an incredible top three time in opening practice, Droux was 15th quickest in session two and went on to qualify 18th fastest for his first race. At the beginning of the contest, the Mark Burdett Motorsport newcomer put together an excellent opening lap to slice his way into 14th position prior to the emergence of the Safety Car.
When racing resumed on lap four, Droux pulled away from his pursuers and on lap nine he challenged Bartlomiej Mirecki, momentarily getting ahead, before then fully sealing the pass for 13th position the next time around after a fantastic battle. Remaining there to the chequered flag on lap 15, Droux was elevated into the top 12 post-race following a time penalty for a rival.
Race two on Sunday morning started behind the Safety Car, due to a very wet track surface following overnight rain, with Droux in 15th position. When the action properly got underway on lap three, the Swiss racer immediately gained one place after Stefan Riener had a spin at the exit of Turn One.
By the end of the lap Droux was up into 13th place but under threat from Bruno Baptista and, although managing to stay ahead initially, after negotiating a spinning car he was bundled back down the order several places.
Running in 17th spot with roughly half the race to go, Droux moved into 16th with just over 10 minutes remaining and then gained two places as a result of dramas for others. Holding 14th place into lap 10, the Safety Car was then deployed following an excursion for Baptista with Droux moving up into 13th where he stayed to the flag – the race concluding under yellow flags.
Race three later in the day began with Droux 18th on the grid but a terrific start unfortunately came to nothing just two corners into the race when he was caught-up in an incident with Baptista, which led to instant retirement with damage.
Mark Burdett Motorsport is now preparing for a busy winter of exclusive Formula Renault 2.0 NEC testing, beginning on 26th/27th October at Silverstone GP Circuit. The team will also visit the Nurburgring in Germany, Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and Motorland Aragon in Spain during November, with a return to Spain in December for outings at Barcelona and Valencia.
For more details about the testing opportunities, which are open to drivers interested in competing in Formula Renault 2.0 NEC as well as those racing in categories such as GP3 Series and Formula 3 who want extra mileage at the aforementioned tracks, please contact Mark Burdett on +44 (0)1754 760290, on +44 (0)7702 570494 or via email to mark@burdettmotorsport.co.uk
