Michael back at the front in Wales

As the BARC Formula Renault Championship entered the final half of 2006, Michael was determined to return to the front of the grid where he started the season. Arriving on the back a very successful test at Thruxton (16/8/06), Michael was straight to work in testing and in the tricky conditions, proved to be the early pace setter. ?In wet conditions we seem to have a very good balance and setup; however when the circuit dried up we began playing catch up again. There is still a lot of work to do on our dry setups?. With the conditions constantly changing throughout testing, Michael was finally able to get some wet weather running after a difficult meeting at Croft (21/5/06).

Qualifying for Saturday?s race would set the scene for the rest of the afternoon as the rain continued to fall. Michael wasted no time in the early part of the session and moved straight to the top of the time sheets until the later stages of qualifying when the rain began to fall harder. ?I think I pushed the tyres too hard in the early stages and was struggling a bit towards the end?. On his final flying lap, Michael secured 7th on the grid for race one.

A bad start in race one saw Michael drop several places heading into the first corner. With a determined drive, Michael began to carve his was through the field and take 5th place which he held until the flag. ?The car was working very well in the wet conditions and I had the confidence in the car to push quite hard. Once in fifth place I was definitely catching the four in front but unfortunately there was not enough time left in the race?.

Sunday showed no signs of rain for the day and held an even better race in prospect as the majority of the grid was covered by one second in qualifying. After a difficult session, Michael lined up 8th on the grid, only 4 tenths off pole! ?We had the pace to be in the top five today at least but with all the antics taking place on the circuit I think I was lucky to get at least one clear lap in. The driving standards today were pretty appalling?.

Another uncharacteristic bad start dropped Michael out of the top 10 heading into the first corner. Once again Michael got his head down and began working his way through the field, reaching 8th place before dropping back down to 9th. Before Michael was able to challenge for the place, the race was cut short after an incident at turn two. ?I?m so disappointed with the race today, after qualifying I was confident we could be challenging near the front and for a podium but we just didn?t have any pace. It?s relief to be back in the top five but our expectations for the weekend were so much higher. I think we need to go away and regroup before we go to Thruxton for round 10 (16/9/06) and work out where our weak points are?.