UK 2000: Will Bratt Croft test 2006-03-22

BRATT HAPPY WITH PACE AFTER OPENING DAY OF CROFT TEST

Scorpio Motorsport ace Will Bratt made a solid start to the first of two days of official Formula Renault UK pre-season testing at Croft Circuit today, but the 17-year-old is confident of being quicker still tomorrow.

The Adderbury driver ran strongly among the pace-setters throughout the test, his fastest lap of 1m 17.587 seconds (98.69mph) seeing him round out the top 10 at the conclusion of the day's running.

With sunny conditions ensuring a dry circuit all day, Will enjoyed the best weather of the pre-season to date by setting quick lap times at the North Yorkshire track, the venue for the ninth and 10th rounds of the 2006 season in mid-July.

The morning session, which was a little under three hours in duration, saw Will post a best time of 1m 17.924 seconds (98.26mph), placing him 10th on the timesheets and just half a second outside the quickest lap of all.

During the afternoon Will bettered his time by four 10ths of a second but ended the session slightly frustrated after several stoppages ensured he was unable to get the most from the brand new tyres the team elected to use during the final hour of the test.

Commenting, Will said: "It's been quite a good day but, as has been the case with the last few official tests, a run on new tyres at the end of the afternoon session was ruined due to there being several red flags.

"We decided to use new tyres with about an hour to go but then had to contend with three separate red flag incidents so I didn't have the opportunity to make the most of them. Had we been able to have a decent run towards the end I think we could have realistically been in the top six -- I'm reasonably happy though."

The final day of official pre-season Formula Renault UK Championship testing will take place at Croft tomorrow, 23rd March, with the first two races of the season set to be staged at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, Kent, in just over a fortnight's time.

-mom