8/8/2007

Championship Leader Lloyd On Top In Testing

Hywel Lloyd set the fastest time in each session of official Formula Renault BARC testing at Hampshire’s Thruxton circuit on Wednesday, 8th August. The CF Racing star, who leads the championship with three race wins, had a best lap of 1min 13.385s (114.87mph) to edge out Eurotek Motorsport’s David McDonald (Ewell) by just 0.06s. Alpine Motorsport’s Dean Stoneman (Southampton) was third fastest with 1min 14.052s.

Formula Renault BARC drivers were invited to attend testing at the high-speed 2.36-mile venue after Renault Sport UK secured extra sessions on the British Touring Car Championship support race test day. Nineteen of the registered Formula Renault BARC drivers took the opportunity, with Reon Motorsport’s Iain Morton (London) the only Club Class competitor to attend.

Session one saw Lloyd set a benchmark time of 1min 14.195s (114.31mph) in the second half of the 40-minute stint. McDonald took second ahead of South Korean team-mate Tom Mun (Market Harborough), while Stoneman, Falcon Motorsport’s Craig Copeland (Wimbourne) and Quantexe Racing’s Felix Fisher (Bridgwater) completed the top six.

Worswick Engineering’s Rossi (Blackburn) and Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Ollie Hancock (Hook) were the other drivers to lap within one second of Lloyd. The leading contenders in the FR2000 Class completed more than 40 laps in total as preparation for round 11 of the Formula Renault BARC Championship, which takes place at Thruxton on Sunday, 16th September.

Session two saw every driver with the exception of Fisher improve on their earlier efforts, with Lloyd heading McDonald, Stoneman, Mun and Copeland. Double M Racing’s Aaron Steele (Chatham) made up for time lost to a broken gear linkage to run sixth fastest ahead of Rossi. Eighth quickest was Fisher with Hancock and Hillspeed Racing’s Chris Dittmann (Tewkesbury) rounding out the top 10.

Commenting on the successful test, Lloyd said: “It’s always nice to be quickest and it gives everyone a bit of a boost. I was working on a few things in the second session and still came out fastest so that’s very encouraging. With so little testing available at Thruxton the more time on track getting used to the aerodynamics at these speeds the better so I’m very satisfied.”

Rounds seven and eight of the Formula Renault BARC Championship take place this weekend, 11th/12th August, at Norfolk’s Snetterton circuit. Each day sees one qualifying session in the morning and a race in the afternoon.