9th August 2011

Alice Powell secured her maiden Graduate Cup success of the Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship season at Snetterton on Sunday, 7th August – a day which also nearly brought Manor Competition its first outright victory of 2011.

Jordan King, who has also been dovetailing his campaign with selected outings in the FIA Formula 2 Championship of late, secured pole position for round 11 at the newly configured 2.97-mile track and didn’t put a wheel wrong in the race itself as he looked certain to take a debut victory.

Under tremendous pressure throughout, King controlled things perfectly and had an answer for everything championship leader Alex Lynn could throw at him. Into the penultimate tour, lap 11, King’s advantage was 0.8 seconds and although losing a bit of time exiting Williams onto Bentley Straight everything seemed fine.

As the lead pair entered the Esses though, Lynn attempted a late pass and was unable to avoid smashing into King’s FR 2.0 – pitching the luckless racer into an immediate retirement and robbing driver and team of a richly deserved success. Although scant consolation, King did post the fastest lap of 1m47.112 seconds (99.78mph) to establish a new lap record for Snetterton 300 Circuit.

“I made a great start, produced consistent lap times and I wasn’t worried about him (Lynn) getting close to me”, said King, “He got a run on me down the straight and was in my tow but it wasn’t anything to worry about. As I turned into the corner though, he dived up the inside and spun me round. We know we have the pace, the win was ours – it’s so disappointing and frustrating.”

Powell ended the opening race as Manor’s top finisher in seventh position, second in the Graduate Cup, just 0.4 seconds ahead of team-mate Josh Hill – the pair climbing through from ninth and 12th on the grid respectively.

Hill produced a series of strong overtaking manoeuvres during the early laps to rise into ninth place behind Powell by the fifth tour and he closed up rapidly on the 2010 Formula Renault BARC title winner. They remained in that order to the finish but gained a further place at the expense of the luckless King when he was forced out of the race.

For round 12, Powell was the best placed Manor driver on the second row after posting the fourth fastest time in second qualifying – just 0.4 seconds shy of pole position. Holding her position on the opening lap, after a short Safety Car period racing resumed on lap four and Powell proceeded to drive a tremendous race – under serious pressure throughout – to claim the Graduate Cup victory.

Hill climbed through the order superbly, again underlining his pace and racecraft, and ended round 12 a mere 0.7 seconds behind Powell. Starting 10th on the grid, the first year Formula Renault racer moved up into eighth at the resumption after the Safety Car and won a tight, see-saw battle with Daniel Cammish and Oliver Rowland with some sensational passing.

King’s weekend didn’t improve much unfortunately after the race one disappointment and he ended up in eighth place after being shuffled down the order to the tail of the top 10 at the re-start. He had started the second encounter in sixth position.

“We’re obviously disappointed and very annoyed about Jordan being taken out of the first race, the win was his”, said Manor Competition co-owner Sarah Shaw, “He did everything right, got a great start and didn’t put a wheel wrong the whole race.

“He really did deserve to win, he proved he’s got the pace and ability to do it. Most disappointing is the fact an experienced second year driver like Lynn felt the need to attempt such a blatantly stupid move that was never on.”

She added: “Alice and Josh both did a great job in the races. It was fantastic to see Alice win the Graduate Cup in the second one and Josh was really fired-up in both races, he did some great overtaking and showed if qualifying can be sorted he’s as big a threat as anyone.”

Next on the calendar for Manor Competition is by far the biggest, in terms of spectator attendance, Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship event of the year with rounds 13 and 14 of the season taking place at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit as part of the annual World Series by Renault festival. Racing will take place over the weekend 20th/21st August.