DOUBLE CROFT VICTORY IN METCALFE’S SIGHTS

Jeremy Metcalfe aims to challenge for nothing less than victory at Croft Circuit next weekend, 2nd/3rd June, during the seventh and eighth rounds of the 2007 Formula Renault UK Championship after comfortably topping the times in official testing at the North Yorkshire venue last week.

The 19-year-old title contender, from Fleet in Hampshire, already has one win and another podium finish to his credit this season but he is hungry for more race victories as he returns to the venue of his maiden Formula Renault UK success, which came during the final round of the 2005 Winter Championship.

Next weekend’s races mark Jeremy’s best opportunity of returning to the top step of the podium since his opening round win of 2007 at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit and the AKA Cobra driver has very high hopes for Croft and is confident he will be able to convert the pace shown in recent testing into race-winning performances.

Incidentally, the BRDC Rising Star’s round one success will receive wide exposure this Sunday night, 27th May, at 00.05 on ITV1 as part of the Motorsport UK programme which follows immediately after highlights of this weekend’s Formula One Monaco Grand Prix.

Returning to the upcoming race meeting at Croft, during last week’s two-day test the Loughborough University student posted the fastest time of all with an outstanding lap of 1m 17.268 seconds (99.01mph). Having been consistent and blindingly fast, Jeremy is relishing the forthcoming event.

“Last week’s test is the best we’ve gone all year and so we’re feeling confident for the races but we’ll just have to wait and see if we can be as competitive”, said Jeremy, “I really like Croft, it’s a circuit where there are some good overtaking opportunities and our car goes well there.

“Hopefully everything will go to plan, I’m feeling confident and now is the time for us to start making inroads into the championship battle. We did a lot of good set-up work at the test and we were very fast on old tyres and quick on new rubber too so we should be strong. Qualifying will be very important though as we’ll only have one session at Croft.”

Due to restrictions with the weekend timetable, the grid for both Formula Renault UK races at Croft will be determined during a single 20-minute session on Saturday, 2nd June, at 10.20. Each driver’s fastest time will set the grid for round seven and every competitor’s second quickest lap will determine the starting order for the eighth round.

The first race of the weekend will take place ay 16.25 on Saturday, 2nd June, with the second 15-lap encounter, which will be broadcast live on digital satellite and cable subscription channel Setanta Sports 2, scheduled to follow at 14.00 on Sunday, 3rd June.