Frustrating return to Snetterton for Michael and the Hillspeed team

The BARC Formula Renault Championship returned to Snetterton for rounds five and six, the midway point of the season. After a superb debut at the circuit in April, Michael had every reason to feel confident heading to the Norfolk circuit.

Friday testing proved extremely chaotic, as every session was interrupted by several red flags. ?The day was a complete joke; there was just one incident after another. Cars were going off all over the place and even some had taken their team mate out! We definitely suffered more than anyone else as we really needed the track time. I don?t even think we managed to get five decent laps in?.

With a difficult day behind them, the team were hoping for better fortune in Sunday?s qualifying session. Both Michael and James (Littlejohn) showed themselves to be the early pacesetters until Michael lost control of his car on the exit of the fast Riches corner, forcing the red flag. ?I?m not sure what actually happened through turn one, I did exactly as I had been doing on the previous laps but the back end tried to snap away from me. I could never have imagined ended qualifying stuck in a corn field!? While anxiously watching the rest of the qualifying session, Michael ended up 11th and 15th for race two.

It seemed as though the grid was still reading off Friday?s script for race one, as the drama picked up where it had left off. The race had to be red flagged three times within the opening laps as cars were flying off the circuit. ?I couldn?t believe what I saw after the first red flag came out; there was almost a mass pile-up at the Russell Chicane as cars were still fighting for position. It was crazy!? After making three incredible starts, Michael eventually came home in 8th place, taking three valuable points and finishing ahead of his team mate who retired with a gear linkage failure.

Amazingly, the whole field made it onto the grid for race two, but this was short lived as the same scenario from race one occurred. After another turn one pile up and then a barrel-rolling Felix Fisher, the field was ready for its sixth start of the day! Michael made another one of his trademark getaways, taking four cars into turn one, lining up just behind his team mate going into Sear corner. With a better exit than James, Michael tried to slipstream past his fellow Hillspeed car but was forced to go around the outside of him into the 120mph Esses corner in a breath-taking move. On the same lap, Michael made a brave and stunning pass on David Scott into the Russell Chicane before hunting down Andrew Bentley and Denis Autier for 5th place. Unfortunately, the six lap race did not prove long enough for Michael to be able to launch an attack so he had to settle for 7th place and four more championship points.

?This weekend has definitely been the most frustrating and bizarre all season. As we did so little winter testing, I?m still learning every time I drive the car, especially with setup; we were still running too much wing in the second race which was really hurting our straight line speed. From where I started in both races with the package we had, I think I did the maximum. With the right setup and better qualifying positions, we had the potential to be at the front of the pack?.