Formula Renault UK

FRenault UK Championship Round 1 – Thruxton, Race 2: Stevens Leads Home Manor 1-2

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The second Formula Renault UK race saw a bone dry track at Thruxton, with Manor Competitions Will Stevens setting the pace in the second qualifying session, ahead of Tom Blomqvist of Fortec Motorsport and the CRS Racing's Harry Tincknell.

As the race got underway Stevens took advantage of his prime qualifying position to take the race lead into the first corner at Allard, followed by team mate Williamson who had jumped the slow starting Blomqvist.

After the opening lap the two Manor Competition cars pulled away from the third place battle, which saw Blomqvist looking to pass Eighteen year old Tincknell; however Tincknell's experience counted as he was able to defend his third place from the attacking Blomqvist, who would finally find a way past Tincknell. This wouldn’t last long as Tincknell came back at the young Swede straight away finding a way back past before another lap had been completed.

Up front, Williamson was relentless in chasing down his team mate, setting the fastest lap in the chase for the win, but was unable to catch the flying Surrey based racer. Stevens took his first win in the series and led home the first ever Manor Competition one-two in the Formula Renault UK Championship. Tincknell backed up his race one podium finish with another third place, but with a gap of five seconds to the Manor Competition duo.

Race one winner Pa'l Kiss showed his potential to be the dark horse for the Formula Renault UK Championship title with a drive from tenth on the grid to fourth at the flag, the Hungarian driver claimed fourth on the final lap from Blomqvist.

As in race one, the Graduate Cup victory went the way of Alex Lynn, with another solid top ten finish, having taken the chequered flag in ninth place. Speaking after the race, Lynn commented on his weekend's results: “Being new to the championship I'm really pleased with how the weekend has gone for me. I've come away with a good point's haul and two Graduate Cup wins and hope to achieve more as the season develops.”

Speaking after the opening weekend, Championship leader Stevens said: “This first win has been a long time coming but I'm really happy. We've been quick in pre-season testing and we've been able to carry that speed into the opening rounds which is largely thanks to Manor Competition who have been brilliant in setting up the car. I'm pleased with how things turned out in round one as I had a disappointing qualifying session and in round two Lewis pushed me hard but I felt I controlled the race well.”

Stevens team mate Williamson said about his weekend: “Round one was disappointing for me but I'm really pleased with round two's result. I tried to catch Will but he was just too quick but overall a promising start.”

Tincknell commented on his weekend's performance: “Thruxton has proved a good start for me but I did struggle with qualifying which is something I need to work on. Tom pushed me really hard in round two so I'm pleased I was able to keep hold of the podium spot and hopefully I can look forward to some race wins at the next meeting.”

Race 2 result:

Position Number Driver Team Time Gap
1 3 Will Stevens Manor Competition 18:51.611s
2 17 Lewis Williamson Manor Competition 18:52.400s 0.789s
3 5 Harry Tincknell CRS Racing 18:56.571s 4.960s
4 47 Tama’s Pa’l Kiss Atech GP 18:57.124s 5.513s
5 10 Tom Blomqvist Fortec Motorsport 18:58.420s 6.809s
6 11 David McDonald Team Firstair 19:00.911s 9.300s
7 4 Jordan Oakes Team Firstair 19:04.934s 13.323s
8 2 Michael Lyons CRS Racing 19:10.545s 18.934s
9 36 Alex Lynn Fortec Motorsport 19:12.788s 21.177s
10 55 Robert Foster-Jones CRS Racing 19:15.763s 24.152s
11 12 Nick Yelloly Atech GP 19:16.033s 24.422s
12 7 Thomas Hylkema Manor Competition 19:19.039s 27.428s
13 99 Chrissy Palmer Fortec Motorsport 19:20.715s 29.104s
14 15 Victor Correa CRS Racing 19:23.770s 32.159s
15 33 Marlon Stockinger Atech GP 19:27.945s 36.334s
16 22 Jessie Laine Mark Burdett Motorsport 19:42.093s 50.482s
17 8 Joe Crook Scorpio Motorsport 19:45.064s 53.453s
18 1 Josh Mulholland Manor Competition 19:17.329s 1 Lap
19 21 Fabio Gamberini Mark Burdett Motorsport 19:48.717s 2 Laps
DNF 27 Ollie Millroy Fortec Motorsport 1:22.739s 15 Laps

Championship standings after rounds 1 and 2:

Position Driver Points
1 Will Stevens 60
2 Tama’s Pa’l Kiss 54
3 Lewis Williamson 52
4 Harry Tincknell 50
5 Tom Blomqvist 42
6 Nick Yelloly 28
7 Robert Foster-Jones 25
8 Alex Lynn 24
9 David McDonald 23
10 Chrissy Palmer 18
11 Thomas Hylkema 18
12 Marlon Stockinger 17
13 Ollie Millroy 16
14 Jordan Oakes 16
15 Victor Correa 15
16 Michael Lyons 14
17 Jessie Laine 12
18 Joe Crook 10
19 Josh Mulholland 3
20 Fabio Gamberini 2

Photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

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