More disappointment for Michael and the team at Oulton Park

The Oulton Park Island circuit played host to the seventh round of the 2006 BARC Formula Renault Championship. With this being Michael?s first visit to the Cheshire venue, the team opted to take part in an extra test prior to the meeting to enable him to learn the track. ?We had a great first test in the build up to the race weekend and I learn a great deal about the circuit and car. I think we found a good base setup for the weekend despite the extremely hot conditions?.

In Friday practice (4/8/06) Michael picked up exactly where he had left off the previous week and was instantly on the pace. ?The track was much cooler today which compromised our balance quite a bit initially. By mid-day we had gone the other way on the setup which was a definite improvement, as the lap times were better and the car was more consistent over the longer runs. We weren?t running new tyres today so our times were not really comparable with some of the other guys?.

With Saturday morning getting off to a wet start, the team was faced with the difficult decision, whether to switch over to a wet setup or not. The team?s driver coach Neil Cunningham advised sticking with a full dry setup after keeping a close eye on the conditions and Michael had every confidence in his decision. When the cars ventured into the unknown qualifying conditions for the first time, Michael knew he would be in for a difficult time as he was the only car running on used tyres. ?We were definitely at a major disadvantage starting on old rubber as in these conditions the tyres would have been worth well over a second a lap?. Despite inconsiderate back-markers and a lack of blue flags, Michael was able to post his fastest lap on his last flying lap to take 11th on the grid. ?Looking at our sector times we should have been at least another two rows up the grid if it hadn?t of been for the back-markers who were making it intentionally difficult to get past; the marshalling was appalling?.

With a tough race ahead of him, Michael wasted no time at the start making up three places by the time the field made it down to the hairpin. A coming together between Tom Arme and Hywel Lloyd caused the rest of the field to bunch up under braking, catching Michael out who hit his front wing on the rear wheel of Denis Autier?s car. ?The actual collision happened completely off the racing line and we were already down to the apex speed of the corner so it was extremely stupid and dangerous for him to jump on his brakes like that?. With substantial damage to the front wing, Michael was called into the pits on lap four to change the nose cone, despite running comfortably in eighth place and lapping competitively in front of Craig Copeland. The pit stop left Michael in last place and a lap down on the field, taking away any chance of a points finish. ?At that point I decided to use the rest of the race as a test session and just try to lap as quickly as possible. I think we set the fourth fastest lap of the race, which on old tyres is pretty pleasing. We definitely had the pace to be at the front this weekend so it?s very disappointing that we were unable to run on new tyres. We?re long overdue a good result for both me and the team so hopefully our luck will change at Pembrey?.