Race 1: Qualified 9th, Finished 9th
Race 2: Qualified 7th, Finished 11th

Duncan’s results are back on track after he qualified in the top ten for both races today.

Formula Renault is widely acknowledged as the toughest one-make series in the UK and without a strong qualifying position Duncan has been finding it hard to fight his way through. The team has worked hard on the car since the last round and has replaced fuel and electrical systems to cure gremlins that prematurely ended his last race and made major changes to the rear of the car.

The changes were for the good and Duncan set excellent times in the sessions with just another few tenths of a second between him and a top three time.

Race One proved to be the highest-scoring for Duncan. His start wasn’t the best, and he lost places, but by the first corner was back up to 12th and then 10th at the end of the first lap. Through the race he managed to overtake again to reclaim ninth.

On the final lap he was taking advantage of a mistake by Fabio Onidio to take eighth but the Italian wouldn’t give up and moved back from the grass onto the track, squeezing Duncan out.

Between the races the team made more changes to the rear of the car to try to help with grip and oversteer but, with hindsight, they didn’t help. Duncan got a much better start for the second race and was up to 5th into the first corner. From there he struggled after running wide and being outpaced on the straight.

After holding position for much of the race he made a last overtaking attempt in the closing stages but again Onidi made an ambitious move and so Duncan crossed the line in eleventh.

Duncan said: “Race One was a really good result and we were hopeful of even better for the second. After the good start in Race Two I ran wide and it was a bit like a snowball effect from there. A few got by, then I was outdragged on the straight, I got a few back up to sixth by going round the outside but then I oversteered and slid at the end of the first lap.

“It’s definitely been a good weekend on paper – being in the top ten is definitely progress. We made changes in Race Two that didn’t help and on top of that we’ve found a problem with the ‘diff’, We’ll be able to sort those for Donington, and given that I tested well there, I’m looking forward to a great event with more good results.”

Duncan’s next event is at Donington Park on September 9th/10th.

•   Filed under: Formula Renault UK
•   Tagged as: Snetterton