Jack Dex Secured Three Top Ten Finishes At Snetterton - Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Jack Dex took a trio of consistent top ten finishes in the opening rounds of the 2012 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship at Snetterton.
Despite only finding the budget to start the season late on, Dex was still in confident mood heading into his second Renault BARC season, the SWB Motorsport driver having topped the timesheets during the series' official media day test at Silverstone.
After spending Friday practice learning the circuit and finding a good balance for the car, Dex hoped for a strong start in qualifying, but some tough wet conditions produced grid positions of just ninth, seventeenth and sixteenth for the three races, not what Dex was hoping for.
Dex said: “I wasn’t aggressive enough and never really got the tyres working. I’ve had very little running in the wet but I know how to improve. Frustrating but I know we can still have three good races.”
The opening race on Saturday afternoon took place in dry conditions, which Dex relished. A great start saw Dex into the top five quickly, however a mistake when trying to overtake dropped him back a few places, though Dex recovered well to take seventh.
Another fantastic start in the dry race two saw Dex up to twelfth by the end of the opening lap, before some more committed overtaking saw him pick a few more off to end the race ninth.
The rain returned for the final race of the weekend, but this didn't phase Dex, another superb opening lap seeing him pass eight cars to end the lap eighth. Struggling for the performance he had in the dry, Dex dropped to tenth by the finish, but three solid top ten finishes left Dex happy, sitting ninth in the championship heading to Rockingham in late May.
Dex added: “A good first round, not the podiums we were hoping for but a great salvage after qualifying in these tricky conditions. At Rockingham if we can qualify at the front we will be fighting for podiums and race wins. I showed consistency this weekend and still believe I can win the Championship with consistent finishes at the front. A lot of the drivers crashed in at least one race this weekend and chucked it off the track.”
