Alexander Sims Third Fastest At Snetterton Circuit
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Jul 04, 2008
Wansford racing driver Alexander Sims has underlined his potential for next weekend’s Formula Renault UK Championship event at Snetterton Circuit by emerging third fastest overall from two days of official testing at the 1.95-mile Norfolk venue.
Consistently quick throughout the two days of action, the 20-year-old Manor Competition ace produced his fastest time during the final session yesterday afternoon, Thursday, 3rd July, with an excellent lap of 1m 04.866 seconds (108.33mph).
One of just four drivers to lap below the 1m 05 second barrier, Alexander ended the test just over a 10th of a second outside the quickest time of all to confirm his front-running pace ahead of the 13th and 14th rounds of the championship on 12th/13th July at, what is, very much a second ‘home’ track for the Cambridgeshire racer.
“It’s been a fairly solid test, I think we maybe lacked a bit of raw pace but overall it’s been pretty good and we’ve shown we should be in the fight for podiums when we come back to Snetterton next weekend for the races”, said the MSA British Race Elite member.
“The car was well balanced and I’m happy I did a pretty good job. We’ve got another run a week tomorrow just before the race meeting so hopefully we’ll be able to fine-tune the car a little more and find that extra 10th of a second or two which could mean the difference between podiums and race wins.”
During the first of yesterday’s sessions, Alexander lapped just 0.056 seconds away from the top of the times with the third best run of 1m 05.236 seconds (107.71mph). Session two saw him produce a time of 1m 05.796 seconds (106.80mph) and then during the third outing he was in the top three again with a lap of 1m 05.373 seconds (107.49mph).
On Wednesday, 2nd July, he opened his account in the four hour morning session with the second fastest time of 1m 05.380 seconds (107.48mph) – just 0.083 seconds away from the top. In the afternoon, his best time was 1m 05.725 seconds (106.91mph).
Formula Renault UK triple-header next weekend
For the first time in his single-seater career, Alexander will contest three races next weekend when the rescheduled 10th round of the 2008 Formula Renault UK season will take place alongside rounds 13 and 14.
Having been postponed at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire at the start of June due to terrible weather, round 10 will be held on the Saturday of the Snetterton race meeting and will see Alexander starting from the front-row of the grid in second place – the result from round 10 qualifying at Croft still standing.
“It’s great the race is going to be held”, he added, “It was a shame we weren’t able to contest round 10 at Croft but I’m looking forward to having three races in one weekend. Starting from the front row we’re in a great position to challenge for a good result and hopefully we’ll be able to qualify just as well for rounds 13 and 14 too!”
Following pre-event practice on Friday, 11th July, the qualifying sessions for rounds 13 and 14 will take place at 10.45 and 15.15 respectively on Saturday, 12th July. The rescheduled 10th round will then be the first Formula Renault UK race of the weekend at around 17.40.
