Formula Renault UK 2.0 Championship star Dan Wells endured a mixed bag of results in the latest two rounds of the 2011 season at Oulton Park in Cheshire. The Atech Reid GP driver took his best result of the season in the first race, but was forced to retire from race two after contact with his team-mate.
The weekend started well for Wells with strong performances in both Friday practice and qualifying, as he explains: “I was very happy with the balance of the car throughout Friday practice and we made good progress to set the 4th fastest time in FP2. I was confident heading into qualifying that we could show our improvement this weekend and we did just that with 7th place.”
The strong performance in qualifying meant the Salisbury-based driver was confident heading into the weekend's first race. A trademark blistering start saw him gain a place, but he was unable to make any further progress and finished sixth.
The 19 year old commented: “I always head into a race knowing I will take places on the first lap and I did just that. I tried to go on the outside of my team mate on lap 2 but it was a bit too ambitious so I thought better of it and I finished the race in 6th place which is once again a step in the right direction.
“I’m not where I want to be at the moment but Rome wasn’t built in a day – I know the areas that I have to improve and it will take time but with the fantastic support Atech Reid GP are giving me I am confident we will get there.”
He hoped to continue his improvement in the weekend's second race, but he ended up frustrated after being hit in the rear by his team-mate on lap two. Despite attempting to continue and pick up some points, he eventually retired later in the race with substantial damage.
Wells added: “In race 2 there was an “unfortunate collision” between O King and myself and there’s not too much more to be said about it to be honest. It was a disappointing end to the weekend for the team but Oscar has told me it won’t happen again – we all make mistakes and it's just part of racing.
“Of course I was disappointed to not finish the race but I did have some fun racing with a broken rear wing, body work and bent tracking but I showed how difficult it is to overtake in Formula Renault around Oulton Park – even when the defending car is 3 seconds off the pace!”
Oulton was Wells' second event with the Atech team and he is very happy with how he is gelling with the team, concluding: “The Atech Reid GP team have been fantastic in making me feel comfortable in my new environment and the way the whole team functions is great. The engineers, driver coach Kelvin Burt, mechanics – not to mention the National College of Motorsport guys are working very hard to ensure that we can have a great season. I look forward to making further progress towards our goal at Croft in two weeks time.”
