Aaron Steele has finishes second for Double M Racing on his BARC Renault debut. After a huge effort to get everything ready for the weekend, Double M Racing is delighted with the result. Aaron has said he was very happy with the result, especially considering the little time spent testing in the car, but was hungry for that 1st win!

Extracts from Renault Sport Press Release:

Hywel Lloyd (Corwen) claimed the first victory of his single-seater career with a dominant display from pole position in round one of the Formula Renault BARC Championship at Donington Park on Sunday, 29th April. The Welsh privateer led home series debutant Aaron Steele (Chatham) and Felix Fisher (Bridgwater) to take the early lead in the FR2000 Class drivers’ standings. Reigning Club Class champion Ian Pearson (Didcot) took the Club Class win ahead of newcomer Marcus Clutton (Oldham) and Adrian Dixon (Harpenden).

A record 38 pre-season registrations ensured a capacity entry of 32 cars on the Leicestershire venue’s National circuit. Only JH Motorsport’s James Heffernan (London) was unable to start the race after a gearbox problem in qualifying. CF Racing’s Lloyd scored one bonus point by taking pole position with a time of 1min 08.873s (102.31mph), which put him 0.473s ahead of Double M Racing’s Steele with Quantexe Racing’s Fisher in third.

At the head of the field, Lloyd’s lead over Steele, which had been as much as 3.4s after five laps was now down to just 1.7s thanks to Steele setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 11 with a time of 1min 09.626s (101.20mph).

Commenting on the victory, Lloyd said: “I got the good start I wanted and then set about building a lead as quick as possible. I had the car set-up to be quick in the early part of the race and although the tyres started to go off later in the race, I was always in control. It’s a great way to start the season and hopefully it will be the same at Croft.”

Second-placed Steele said: “Maybe if the race had been a few laps longer it would have been interesting but it wasn’t to be. My tyres took a while to warm up so I spent four or five laps defending rather than attacking for the lead. I’m pleased to have started second and finished second and I set the fastest lap as well but I know there’s more to come.”