Dean Smith (Wolverhampton) will start from pole position in both rounds of the Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship at Donington Park National circuit after a frantic day of qualifying on Saturday, 14th July. The Fortec Motorsport driver set a time of 1min 06.712s (105.62mph) in qualifying for round 11 and then improved to 1min 06.585s (105.82mph) to claim pole position for round 12.
He is joined on the front row for each race by a driver putting in their best qualifying performance of the season. Manor Competition’s Alexander Sims (Peterborough) was just 0.062s adrift in the morning session to secure second place for round 11. Sims’ former team-mate, RS Racing’s Richard Singleton (Conwy), starts second in round 12 after lapping the 1.96-mile circuit just 0.048s slower than Smith in the afternoon session.
Fortec duo Riki Christodoulou (Sutton Coldfield) and Duncan Tappy (West Ewell) fill the second row of the grid for each race, while Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Will Bratt (Banbury) starts fifth each time. Sixth place goes to Singleton for round 11 and Sims for round 12, to go with their front row starts.
Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Sho Hanawa (Skegness) had his best grid-slot of the season with seventh for round 11, while Eurotek Motorsport’s Jordan Oakes (Hopton) improved from 16th in the morning session to set the eighth quickest time in the afternoon. AKA Cobra had a disappointing day with Jeremy Metcalfe’s (Fleet) seventh place for round 11 its best result. Adam Christodoulou (Lichfield), who leads the Graduate Cup and is third overall in the drivers’ standings, starts ninth in both races.
Borthwick Motorsport’s Ryan Borthwick (Hawick) also recorded his best qualification result of the season in the second session, lining up 10th after being 17th quickest in the morning. Meanwhile, a mechanical problem for AKA Cobra’s Chris Holmes (Ilkley) means he starts round 12 from the back of the grid after completing just four laps.
Commenting on his double pole position, Smith said: “In the morning I only had a couple of laps at the end of the session to put in a quick time. I did a 1min 06.9s lap and thought that would at least get me in the top six but it was great to go even quicker on the last lap. The second session was slightly more comfortable as I did a good time early on and then just had to wait and see if anyone got close to it. ”
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