Autosport Magazine’s January 6th edition, available now at all leading newsagents, carries a great feature on “The Faces That Carry The Hopes Of British Racing” – and every one of the 12 young drivers listed has links directly back to Renault.
Nine of the exciting prospects have all been either champions or title contenders in the Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin during recent years while the other three have also dabbled in Renault motorsport during the formative stages of their careers – underlining Renault’s tradition in helping produce the best young driver talent.
Reigning Formula Renault UK Champion Mike Conway, 2003 Formula Renault UK Champion Lewis Hamilton and 2002 Formula Renault UK Champion Danny Watts have all been included in the list alongside the likes of former category front-runners Alex Lloyd, Jamie Green, Susie Stoddart, James Rossiter and Ryan Sharp.
In addition, 2004 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Paul Di Resta and 15-year old British karting sensation Adam Christodoulou make it into the dynamic dozen along with reigning Formula BMW UK Champion Tim Bridgman, a former Formula Renault UK Winter Championship competitor, and current Formula 3 and ex-Formula Renault Campus racer Adam Carroll.
While Conway says his championship victory in 2004 was a “goal fulfilled”, his predecessor Hamilton comments: “Two years in Formula Renault was the perfect preparation for Formula 3 – F3 is not a massive difference.”
Danny Watts refers to “…winning the British Formula Renault Championship in 2002…”as his career highlight to date and in 12 months time he hopes to be continuing his Renault link by competing in the World Series by Renault or the Renault-powered GP2 category.
Britain’s number one female racing driver Susie Stoddart, meanwhile, comments: “I’ve had three really testing years in Formula Renault so I’ve got a good grounding in racecraft and how to set up cars. I went straight to FRenault from karts so it was a steep learning curve in a really tough championship.”
With Renault UK now sponsoring the British Karting Championships, more and more young drivers are looking at Formula Renault as the only true stepping stone into a potential career in Formula 3 and, possibly Formula One.
One of those is teen sensation Adam Christodoulou and while the youngster will continue to learn in Super One karting throughout 2005, he hopes to step up to Formula Renault UK in time for the 2006 season. In the Autosport article he says: “I’ll be karting again this year but hope to be ready for FRenault after that. I want to get some FRenault testing in this year.”
Don’t forget, the Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin will be represented at the Autosport International Show at Birmingham’s NEC this weekend on stand K620 in the karting area of Hall 20. The show opens to the media on Thursday (13th January) with public attendance permitted on Saturday and Sunday (15th/16th January).
For all the latest Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin news visit the official Renault Sport UK website www.renaultsport.co.uk built by racecar
