CAR RACING ROOKIE REILLY TAKES DOUBLE POINTS FINISH ON DEBUT
Formula Renault UK rookie Joseph Reilly made a solid start to his car
racing career at Snetterton in Norfolk on Saturday, 31st October, with a
brace of points scoring results for Hillspeed during the opening two
rounds of the four race Winter Championship.
Joining the Hathersage-based entrant a few weeks ago in readiness for his
step-up from a glittering tenure in karting, the 17-year-old from Camden,
London, enjoyed a good single-seater bow over the weekend and is now
looking forward to next Saturday's event at Rockingham in
Northamptonshire.
Running well in officially timed testing at Snetterton on Friday, 30th
October, Reilly was faced with an altogether different challenge for
qualifying on Saturday morning as the 1.95-mile track became saturated
following persistent rainfall.
Providing a stern test for the European Rotax Max Karting Vice-Champion,
he lined up at the rear of the grid for both encounters but came through
well to not only reduce his lap times markedly as the day progressed but
also race strongly with fellow kart graduate Robert Foster-Jones.
In round one -- which was abandoned and then re-started later in the
day following a number of incidents -- Reilly piled on the pressure to
10th placed Foster-Jones as the race reached mid-distance but on lap 11
the battle dwindled when the Hillspeed youngster had to take avoiding
action and lost vital time. Nonetheless, he finished in 12th place and
posted the ninth best lap of 1m16.868 seconds.
The second race served up an improved 11th place finish for Reilly,
finishing a mere 0.266 seconds behind experienced Formula Renault UK
driver Marlon Stockinger, and combining both Snetterton results he is
just four points shy of Foster-Jones in the championship.
Hillspeed team principal Richard Ollerenshaw commented: "This weekend
has been a very tough learning curve for Joe but he's done a good,
sensible job in the differing conditions throughout the course of
testing, qualifying and the races. The aim was for him to leave
Snetterton with two good finishes and valuable experience which is
exactly what we've achieved."
The third and fourth rounds of the Formula Renault UK Winter Championship
will take place on Saturday, 7th November, at Rockingham International
Super Sports Car Circuit near Corby. Before then, Hillspeed will test at
Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit today, Monday, 2nd November, prior to
arriving at Rockingham on Thursday, 5th November, for two back-to-back
days of practice.
-credit: hillspeed.co.uk
