Hillspeed’s Zaamin Jaffer narrowly missed out on a top six finish in his debut in the Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship at Donington Park. The Indian racer took seventh in race one, before contact in the second race ruined his chances of a similar finish.
The 21-year-old showed good pace during the weekend's first qualifying session, topping the timesheets early on before traffic problems stopped him staying at the top, ending up ninth fastest, before finishing the second qualifying session twelfth in the standings.
Race one saw Jaffer, who lives in Dubai when not racing or studying in the UK, make a decent start before working his way up the field, moving into seventh by lap four. Unable to catch the top six, he spent the remainder of the race fending off a challenge from rival Matt Mason.
The Active PR backed driver moved into the top ten early on during the second race, holding ninth at the half way mark, before making another place into eighth soon after. However his race went sour on lap fourteen when contact on his rear tyre caused a puncture, dropping him to fourteenth at the finish.
Jaffer, who lies eleventh in the championship standings, commented: “The speed is definitely there. We just need to get everything right in qualifying and then we can consistently challenge at the front. You need to be in the top six in qualifying at least and we just missed out on that this weekend. I know we have the pace though.”
“I definitely expected more this weekend and so I am a bit disappointed. We shouldn't be starting races mid-grid and that's mainly where everything went wrong – if you're on the first two or three rows you just don't get caught up. I'm aiming much higher for Brands Hatch.”
