Fortec Motorsport’s Yelmer Buurman got his Formula Renault UK Winter Championship with Michelin preparations off to the best possible start during testing ahead of the opening races at Pembrey Circuit, in Wales.
The Dutchman edged Team JLR’s Stephen Simpson (Enfield, Middlesex) into second position during Thursday’s test with a best lap of 52.971 seconds, but he then went a full seven 10ths of a second quicker during this morning’s additional three-hour session at the 1.45 mile Welsh venue to post a best lap of 52.274 seconds (100.27mph).
Second again was Simpson, this time a full three 10ths of a second shy of Buurman, while Manor Motorsport’s Patrick Hogan (Killiney, Co. Dublin) was third with a time of 52.650 seconds – an improvement of seven 10ths over his Thursday best.
Oliver Jarvis (Burwell, Cambridgeshire) ended the session with the fourth fastest time, less than two 10ths of a second slower than his Manor team-mate, while Formula Ford Festival winner Daniel Clarke (Maidenhead, Berkshire) was fifth for JLR.
Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Venezuelan driver Rodolfo Gonzalez (Attleborough, Norfolk) was an impressive sixth fastest for Mark Burdett Motorsport, American Ben Freudenberg (Northampton) was seventh for Fortec and Manor’s Dutch karting star Bas Lammers underlined his Formula Renault potential with the eighth best time.
Fortec’s Stuart Hall (Halstead, Essex), who certainly goes into the Winter Championship as one of the true front-runners, ended the session in ninth position with Peruvian Juan Manuel Polar rounding out the top 10 for Team aka.
While Buurman and Simpson were also at the head of the timesheets at the conclusion of Thursday’s test, it was Hall who finished the session in third position ahead of Hogan, Clarke and Jarvis with the fourth, fifth and sixth fastest times respectively.
Freudenberg ended the test in seventh place, Team aka’s James Jakes (Cullingworth, West Yorkshire) was eighth, Lammers was ninth and Team JLR’s Craig Dolby (Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire) was 10th.
Qualification and the first and second rounds of the 2004 Formula Renault UK Winter Championship with Michelin take place tomorrow, Saturday, 6th November, with the concluding races to take place at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire next weekend, Saturday, 13th November.
For all the latest Formula Renault UK Winter Championship with Michelin news visit the official Renault Sport UK website www.renaultsport.co.uk built by Racecar
