UK 2.0: Jeremy Metcalfe Croft Friday notes

TESTING DELIGHT FOR METCALFE AT SUNNY CROFT

Hampshire ace Jeremy Metcalfe concluded today's official Formula Renault UK test session at Croft delighted with his performance and is now confident of putting up a determined fight for his maiden pole position of the year during qualifying tomorrow.

The 18-year-old, who is also bidding to return to the podium and get his championship challenge back on track this weekend during the ninth and 10th rounds of the season at the 2.1-mile North Yorkshire venue, ended testing with the third fastest time but, more importantly, was just a 10th of a second away from the top of the timesheets.

Jeremy's best lap of the day was posted during the 45-minute morning session, a time of 1m 17.675 seconds (98.58mph) placing the AKA Lemac runner firmly in contention, and the Fleet teenager is now looking forward to what should be an entertaining qualifying battle tomorrow.

"It's been a very good day for us", commented Jeremy, "We're feeling very confident ahead of the weekend as we know we have a good set-up, we just need to make sure we make the most of qualifying in order to get a good grid position for both races.

"We did have a small problem during the afternoon session today which caused a bit of understeer and cost us some time, so to end the day just a 10th of a second away from the top of the times is very encouraging."

Jeremy, of course, earned his first ever Formula Renault UK race win -- which was also his debut victory in cars - at Croft during the 2005 Winter Championship so with the circuit holding such good memories he is hoping for two excellent results this weekend.

He added: "It's good to be back at Croft and we really do think we stand a good chance of a couple of podiums and, hopefully, our first win of the season. The championship is very competitive this year so the races will be tough, but I'm sure we can take some good points away from the weekend and boost our position in the title chase."

Qualifying for the ninth round of the Formula Renault UK season will take place at Croft tomorrow, Saturday, 15th July, at 10.20 with round 10 qualifying expected to commence at 13.30. The first of the weekend's races, round nine, will then start at 16.10 with the 10th round of the year taking place on Sunday, 16th July, at 16.05.

-www.jeremymetcalfe.com