Hathersage based Formula Renault BARC team Hillspeed returned home to Derbyshire last night, Wednesday, 2nd July, absolutely delighted with its second day of testing action at Snetterton Circuit in Norfolk.
Taking part in the opening day of officially timed Formula Renault UK testing at the 1.95 mile venue, Hillspeed ran three cars – as it did on Tuesday – for Menasheh Idafar, Michael Lyons and newcomer Immanuel Bryson Haynes.
Idafar ended the day as the quickest of Hillspeed’s trio, first concluding the four-hour morning session as the fastest BARC driver by just under two 10ths of a second with a best lap of 1m 06.107 seconds (106.29mph).
Running without the BARC engine restrictor plate in the afternoon, he outpaced several Formula Renault UK drivers with a scintillating effort to record the 13th quickest time of the session. Lapping in 1m 05.859 seconds (106.69mph), the British-born Bahraini claimed a number of major scalps including current BARC points leader Ollie Hancock who was at the wheel of a 2008-specification Formula Renault UK car.
Essex teenager Lyons, meanwhile, continued his re-adjustment to contemporary racing cars – having recently been campaigning historic Formula One machinery – and posted his best time of the day of 1m 09.325 seconds (101.36mph) during the morning, the fourth fastest Formula Renault BARC runner of that session. He went on to almost match this in session two with a lap of 1m 09.492 seconds (101.12mph).
Australian rookie Bryson Haynes improved markedly between the two sessions as he further evaluates his options for the tail end of 2008 and into next year. Lapping in 1m 12.311 seconds (97.17mph) during the morning, he found almost a second extra in the afternoon to set a promising best time of the day of 1m 11.404 seconds (98.41mph).
Richard Ollerenshaw, Hillspeed team boss, commented: “Menasheh was absolutely outstanding, he shocked everybody with his incredible pace and he’s proven he would be able to make the step up to the full UK championship and be very competitive.
“As on Tuesday, Mick continued to dial himself back into his BARC car after several weeks of racing in historics. Unfortunately he lost some time after breaking a rear upright over the kerbs at Russell Chicane but we have a lot more testing in place over the next week or so which will be important track time ahead of Croft in two weeks.”
Ollerenshaw added: “Immanuel used his second day on track as something of a marker to see where he is and he did a great job, especially considering his complete lack of experience in these cars and of the circuit too. He’s taken some massive steps over the last two days and worked very hard. All in all, we’re very pleased.”
Rounds six and seven of the Formula Renault BARC Championship will take place just over a fortnight from now on 19th/20th July at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire. Hillspeed has, of course, enjoyed success at Croft in the past with Idafar and Ahmad Al Harthy claiming BARC Class podiums in the 2007 Formula Renault UK Winter Championship.
Before the resumption of the 2008 season, the team will be back in testing action over the course of the next fortnight with another visit to Snetterton and a trip to the East Midlands, taking in outings at Rockingham and Donington Park. Regular driver Ahmad Al Harthy will make a welcome return to the track alongside team-mate Lyons.
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