Spa success for Owens with maiden Formula Renault podium
(PRWEB UK) 29 July 2013 -- British racing driver Raoul Owens delivered an outstanding performance during round nine of the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (NEC) at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium today, Saturday, 27th July, to secure his first category podium and rocket into the championship top eight.
Beginning the fourth weekend of his maiden European season in 19th position in the championship, as a result of some major misfortune during the first part of the campaign, the 18-year-old put together two superb races to mark his arrival as a genuine front-running contender.
Added to his tremendous third place result in round nine, the Mark Burdett Motorsport racer was fourth in round eight on Friday, 26th July, and now heads into next weekend’s event at Assen in The Netherlands brimming with confidence.
“We desperately needed a good points score this weekend, a lot of the guys ahead of me in the championship didn’t have a great time so it was important to come away with the best results we could – I’m really happy with fourth and third,” said Raoul.
“Coming into Spa, we knew we were quick in the dry and the wet after our recent tests. It’s really fantastic to get my first podium, huge thanks to everyone at the team as they did a great job with the car between races. We had a strong qualifying, like at Silverstone, and kept out of trouble in the races which made all the difference.”
Rapid from the outset in the wet qualifying session, the Bright Spark Ventures-backed driver was third quickest in his group with a time of 2m43.242 seconds (154.5 km/h) which equated to fifth on the combined grid for round eight.
Moving into the top four on the opening lap of Friday afternoon’s encounter, Raoul soaked up immense pressure from Andrea Pizzitola but had to give best on the third tour as his pace was somewhat compromised by a balance issue with his FR 2.0.
Even so, the Cape Town-based racer was able to remain comfortably clear of the chasing pack and actually increased his advantage over his closest pursuer to more than 15 seconds. Holding fifth place, Raoul then moved back into fourth at the end of lap nine following a pit-stop for Pizzitola.
Lining-up in fifth again for round nine, which took place in tricky drying conditions, the first year NEC racer instantly moved into fourth off the start and avoided getting caught-up in a tangle between the leaders to take second. Although losing out shortly after, he quickly recaptured the position.
Holding station for the bulk of the race, the Briton remained ahead of race one rival Pizzitola until the end of lap 10 when the slightest of errors at the final chicane enabled the ART Junior Team driver to edge past after a great wheel-to-wheel duel.
Reflecting on round nine, Raoul said: “I got a good start, the track was quite wet on the main straight but it was drying out everywhere else, then I got up to fourth and held that around the first corner and up through Eau Rouge. The two front guys then came together and so I was up into second momentarily but I had to avoid getting caught-up in the accident so I was pushed back to third.
“I got second back and was there for the majority of the race, [Andrea] Pizzitola was quick though and, unfortunately, I made a mistake into the final chicane right near the end. He got a run on me, we were side-by-side up Eau Rouge, which was pretty exciting, and he was then able to get into my tow on the straight. I sat behind him after that – I nearly got back past a couple of times.”
Raoul now has just a week to wait for the next event on the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC calendar, the fifth race meeting of the campaign at Assen in The Netherlands, on 3rd/4th August.
Provisional 2013 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup Standings (after Rd9):
8th Raoul Owens, 68pts
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