Nicky Wilson (Addlestone, Surrey), 2004 Formula Renault BARC Champion, has confirmed he’ll return to the category at Donington Park this weekend for the second round of the season, having signed a deal with front-running team Falcon Motorsport.

Great things will be expected of Wilson when he arrives at the Leicestershire circuit at the weekend, although it will mark the first time he has driven any competitive miles in one of the FR 2000 Class cars – the current Formula Renault chassis having only been introduced to the BARC series this year.

Speaking on his FR 2000 Class debut, Wilson said: “It’ll be great to get back out there racing. I have been trying to gain enough sponsorship to graduate to Formula Renault UK but unfortunately we haven’t been successful enough yet.

“I want to make sure people haven’t forgotten about me so if we can have a good race at Donington it should help my cause. I still have a couple of weeks to go with my University degree but as soon as it’s completed I’ll be able to devote all my time to sponsorship hunting, which I haven’t been able to do recently.

“I want a good result and the guys at Falcon are great so I’m sure we’ll work very well together. The aim is to get back out there, show what I can do, and hopefully it’ll all go towards helping me progress to Formula Renault UK later in the year.”

The deal is great news for Falcon as the team can undoubtedly lay claim to having the strongest driver pairing in the Formula Renault BARC Championship with Wilson joining Matt Russell (Harlesden, London), but for boss Nick Streatfield racing hasn’t been the sole focus since round one at Silverstone last weekend.

In a lovely twist, Streatfield became a father for the first time during the early hours of this morning (Thursday) when his wife gave birth to a baby boy, Thomas, at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

“My wife and Thomas are both doing well and I’m obviously delighted to become a father, it feel absolutely fantastic”, commented Streatfield. “As you can imagine it’s been very hectic here over the last few weeks but I’m very happy we’ve been able to reach an agreement with Nicky to become Matt’s team-mate at Donington.

“It’s good for the team to have two front-running drivers out there and provides us with a fantastic opportunity to push for a one-two finish, which we’ll certainly aim for. The first meeting at Silverstone was good with Matt achieving pole position and a podium finish and I’m confident we can go for the race win this weekend.”

After the opening round of the season at Silverstone last weekend, Etek Motorsport’s Nick Wilcox (Camberley, Surrey) currently leads the FR 2000 Class of the 2005 Formula Renault BARC Championship on 16 points, having taken an excellent race win and a bonus point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

Falcon’s Matt Russell lies in second position in the driver standings with Team Nasamax driver Dean Stirling (Shamley Green, Guildford) in third place, both drivers having run very competitively at Silverstone.

In the Club Class, Ian Pearson (Didcot, Oxon) leads the way after dominating round one, taking pole position, the class victory and also setting the fastest race lap. He leads the Club Class standings with a maximum 17 points, five ahead of X-Dream’s Martin Bloss (Andover, Hampshire).

DS Motorsport’s David Scott (Heathfield, East Sussex) is third in Club Class with 10 points, two ahead of WL Racing’s novice driver Cameron Jackson (Scampton, Lincolnshire) – younger brother of Formula BMW competitor Dominik.

Round two of the 2005 Formula Renault BARC Championship takes place this Sunday, 24th April, at Donington Park in Leicestershire.

Provisional 2005 Formula Renault BARC Championship

Driver Standings – after Rd 1

FR 2000 Class: 1st Nick Wilcox, 16pts; 2nd Matt Russell, 13pts; 3rd Dean Stirling, 10pts;

4th Denis Autier, 8pts; 5th Philippe Challande, 6pts

Club Class: 1st Ian Pearson, 17pts; 2nd Martin Bloss, 12pts; 3rd David Scott, 10pts;

4th Cameron Jackson, 8pts; 5th James Green, 6pts; 6th Bob Pearson, 5pts

For all the latest Formula Renault BARC Championship news visit the official Renault Sport UK website www.renaultsport.co.uk built by Racecar