Idafar Remains Competitive In Wet Conditions During Testing At Croft
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Aug 20, 2008
Mick Walker
Promising young single-seater racer Menasheh Idafar made a return to the cockpit of a Formula Renault UK car at Croft Circuit near Darlington today, Tuesday, 19th August, where he racked up some vital testing miles in wet conditions.
The British-born Bahraini, who is racing this year in the Formula Renault BARC series, took part in a general test day at the North Yorkshire track and impressed his Hillspeed team with an assured and very competitive performance in its 2008 specification Formula Renault UK car.
With four of the day’s five sessions completely wet, Menasheh gained some essential experience in the rain and produced a best lap of 1m 30.3 seconds. During the driest of the sessions, which wasn’t completely devoid of moisture, the 17-year-old managed a time of 1m 20.9 seconds.
Very happy with his day’s work, the Gulf Computer Services, Ortolan and Gulfol backed driver said: “It was great to be back in the UK car and we had a really good day without any problems. Obviously, we haven’t been our most competitive in the wet this year in the BARC car but I’m confident today has helped us make some good progress. “
With a further test in the UK-specification car expected to come next week at Snetterton in Norfolk, Menasheh will then focus on a return to his regular Formula Renault BARC racer ahead of the 10th round of the season – the penultimate race meeting of 2008 – at Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire on Sunday, 7th September.
Reflecting on today’s Croft outing, Menasheh’s driver coach Matt Shawyer said: “We’ve had a great day’s running, four wet sessions and one fairly dry one in the UK car. Again, Menasheh did a fantastic job and his wet weather pace was good.”
“We made some changes during the day and completed some good work. We’re confident we’ve taken some more steps forward with our wet weather performance which is good news.”
Provisional 2008 Formula Renault BARC Championship Standings (after Rd9):
1st Ollie Hancock, 117pts
2nd Johannes Seidlitz, 71pts
4th Menasheh Idafar, 61pts
