Manor Competition made the perfect start in the defence of their 2009 driver's title with a strong weekend at Thruxton for Will Stevens and Lewis Williamson as they debuted the new 2010 Formula Renault UK Championship car.
For eighteen year old Stevens, after setting the eighth fastest time in the wet opening qualifying session drove an impressive race to recover second position behind Tama’s Pa’l Kiss at the flag. The Oxshott based driver then took a dominant victory from pole position in the second race, backing up his race one result. This result means that Stevens leads the Championship leaving Thruxton.
For Golspie racer Williamson, he showed his potential to fight for the crown having led the first half of the damp opening race before his front end damage caused the twenty year old Scotsman to drop down the field and he finished fourth in his first race for Manor Competition.
Race two saw Williamson back up Stevens as Manor took their first ever one, two finish in the series. Stevens took pole position for the second race and took advantage of his prime qualifying position while Williamson qualified fourth and made a flying start to the race to settle into second and follow Stevens home, finishing seven tenths of a second behind the Surrey racer.
Leaving Thruxton, Stevens leads the standings with sixty points with team mate Williamson eight points behind in third, while the team lead the teams Championship by eighteen points.
Speaking after the opening two races, Championship leader Stevens said: “I worked really hard over the winter, as has the team and this weekend's performance is a culmination of that. I'm really; really happy to have taken the win and to be leading the championship after the first event is great. Obviously, there's a long way to go but we've made a very good start.”
Photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography