Nottinghamshire based Formula Renault UK entrant Manor Competition celebrated its sixth podium finish of the 2008 season at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit on Sunday, 8th June – MSA British Race Elite member Alexander Sims racing strongly from sixth on the grid to the third step on the rostrum in front of an incredible 70,000-strong crowd.
Starting round 12 from the third row of the grid, one place behind team-mate Kris Loane, Sims ran in sixth place for the first few laps before starting to carve his way through the upper order. Pressuring fifth-placed Dean Stoneman on lap four, Sims was ultra-late on the brakes into Abbey to take the position.
Next in the sights of the 20-year-old Manor driver was James Calado who, battling hard to defend his position while carrying a broken front wing, succumbed to Sims’ pressure at Priory on lap six.
Some three and a half seconds shy of third placed Josh Scott heading into lap seven, Sims closed the gap down to nothing by lap 11 and on the 14th tour he forced his rival into a mistake under braking for Stowe, Sims taking third to the delight of the team.
Northern Ireland 20-year-old Loane, meanwhile had problems getting away from the grid cleanly and headed into Copse corner for the first time at the tail of the field having qualified in a competitive fifth place. He produced a superb recovery though, lapping with pace comparable to that of fifth-placed Stoneman.
By lap three he was into the top 14 and on lap nine had climbed to within touching distance of the top 10 in 11th position. Ending the race in 10th spot, Loane crossed the line just four 10ths behind James Calado and around two seconds clear of Kieran Clark.
Rescuing a terrific top 10 finish from what looked set to be a low points score at the start of the race, Loane faired better in the first of the weekend’s races – round 11 – where he maintained his starting position of sixth throughout and was the quickest Manor driver with a best lap time of 1m 49.033 seconds.
For Sims, round 11 produced a top five result – again where he started on the grid – but he did come under huge pressure from team-mate Loane during the closing stages. The pair were separated by just seven 10ths of a second at the chequered flag.
Surtees disappointed but good consistency for Armour
Henry Surtees didn’t enjoy the best of weekends in terms of the races, although qualifying went quite well with his consistency delivering an 11th place start for round 11 and a top 10 grid placing for round 12. On lap two of Sunday’s first race, Surtees had a spin while battling for position heading onto Hangar Straight and was forced to retire.
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