Season-Best Seventh for Gill on Home Ground

Alex Gill produced two more consistently strong drives for Mark Burdett Motorsport during the second event of the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit over the weekend, 14th/15th May, with a season-best seventh place in round three on Saturday.

Adding another top eight finish to his tally in round four on Sunday morning, the Doncaster racer concluded the event an improved seventh in the championship standings for the Lincolnshire squad ahead of a month’s break in the 2016 calendar.

Scottish rookie Finlay Hutchison chalked-up two more important finishes on only his second weekend racing in Formula Renault 2.0 NEC, taking 19th place in round three and an improved 18th position in round four – in the top five of the Rookie class in each contest.

“Alex has been very consistent again this weekend, he made two great starts and raced very well – in the second one a lot of people had new tyres so that affected how much he could do,” said team principal Mark Burdett, “We need to find a few more tenths, so we’ll be out testing at Anglesey on Wednesday and then back out to Budapest at the end of month ready for the next round. Finlay is doing a really good job, he’s making fantastic progress and massive steps forward with his driving – he’s improving with every session. Although the results might not show it yet, in terms of what he’s doing with his driving and how much he’s learning he really is improving very quickly.”

Gill made the perfect start to his weekend on home soil during opening practice on Friday, 13th May, after topping the times by almost 0.2 seconds and he went on to consolidate his front-running pace with a top five time in session two. Hutchison was 21st overall, seventh Rookie, and an improved 19th and sixth in class in the second run.

During qualifying later in the day, Gill secured eighth on the grid for rounds three and four with Hutchison 20th overall for the first contest, sixth highest Rookie, and 19th on the grid for race two, fifth in the Rookie classification.

Before race one on Saturday afternoon began, front-row qualifier Lando Norris entered the pits at the end of the formation lap due to a problem with his car so Gill was elevated into seventh on the grid and Hutchison 19th place.

Making an excellent start, Gill looked to thread his way between the two cars ahead and after sweeping around the outside at Copse he moved up into the top six. Sandwiched between Callan O’Keeffe and Jehan Daruvala for the first few laps, on the fourth tour Gill was edged back to seventh place but contact between Daruvala and O’Keeffe at Luffield on lap six elevated Gill back into sixth.

Unfortunately running slightly wide on entry to Wellington Straight on lap seven, Gill slipped back to seventh once more and spent the second half of the contest soaking up huge pressure from Julien Falchero and Huge de Sadeleer, but the Mark Burdett driver held onto seventh to the flag.

Hutchison was elbowed down to 21st place overall during the action-packed first lap but as a result of O’Keeffe’s enforced spin on the sixth tour, he moved back into the top 20 running very closely behind David Porcelli.

Swarming all over the back of the American, Hutchison searched for a way past lap after lap and into the closing stages he was nose-to-tail with Porcelli who, in turn, was tucked up behind Kasper Larsen. On the 12th and penultimate tour, Hutchison managed to get ahead of Porcelli for 19th place and he concluded the contest there to also take fifth in the Rookie class.

Lining-up eighth on the grid for Sunday morning’s contest, Gill made a good start and safely made his way through Copse on the inside before pressuring Vasily Romanov on the run down Hangar Straight. Considering a bold move into Stowe, Gill had to instead tuck back in but he stayed very close to the seventh placed car and made a successful move with a great pass at Brooklands.

Holding seventh until lap seven, Gill was edged back to eighth again by Callan O’Keeffe and then spent the remainder of the 13-lap contest successfully fending off a resurgent Romanov – which he did by 0.4 seconds at the chequered flag.

Hutchison began the race from 19th spot and although edged back a couple of positions on the opening tour, the first year Scottish racer was able to climb back into the top 20 fairly quickly as a result of an incident on lap two and then a rival pitting for a new nose cone a couple of laps later.

Moving into 19th position on lap five, still holding fifth in the Rookie class, Hutchison progressed into 18th place with little more than six minutes to go and stayed there to the chequered flag to take his best result of the weekend.

Rounds five and six of the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC season will take place at the Hungaroring, near Budapest in Hungary, over the weekend 18th/19th June.

 

2016 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Driver Standings (after Rd4):

7th Alex Gill, 52pts; 22nd Finlay Hutchison, 13pts

 

2016 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Team Standings (after Rd4):

5th Mark Burdett Motorsport, 52pts