The Friday practise did not go to plan, as a problem with the turbo pipe, meant Alice only got 15-20 minutes running out of the 45 minute session, “Missing vital track time was a big hindrance for me, as I needed to get time to learn the track as well as continue to get used to the GP3 car, but the team reacted well to get the problem sorted”.

On Saturday, morning the 26 car field headed out for Qualifying, with Alice securing P18 on the grid for Race One, which was later that day. Even though Powell started on the dirty side of the grid she got a good drive off the line and had already made up two places at Turn One. However, her race was cut short at Turn Two, when she was hit from behind by another car, which put her into a spin into the gravel trap.

For Race two, due to not finishing Race one, Alice had to start at the back of the grid. Getting another fantastic start, Alice ended up P13 by the end of the first lap! After losing a tough battle with Kevin Ceccon (who has tested in Formula One), Powell made another two spots due to two drivers ahead of her receiving drive through penalties, which promoted her to P11. From there on, Alice lapped within 6ths of a second of the leaders pace and by the end was catching the pack in front, but ran out of time to challenge, so crossed the line in P11, a fantastic result for the British driver.

Commenting on the weekend, Alice said “What a weekend! I have learnt so much and still have plenty to learn about the car. It was a big shame about Race one, but the Status GP crew did an awesome job to get the car sorted for Race two. Because I did not finish Race one, Race two was the first time for me using low down force setting, which GP3 rules state that all drivers have to use in all races and what an amazing race it was! I just cannot wait for the next race, and huge thanks to my sponsors, Silverstone-hotels.com, Immun’Age, My Protein, hearingprotection.co.uk and IWI watches. Also to the team, who did a great job all weekend”

‘ I’m really excited about the 24 hour event. I’ve done it once before but it was in a slower car so I am excited to get in something more purposeful. The original plan was to use our own Ginetta but it was a lot of work to convert our car to GT4 spec and the deal with the Jaguar and Carvell Motorsport was very attractive. The prime objective is to finish the race and after that if a class win is possible then that would be a huge bonus’

Nathan will also be running a car in the British GT series at the same meeting so will have his work cut out to be team boss for Century Motorsport and drive in the most gruelling of 24 hour races.

“Our victory chances more or less disappeared in qualifying, and we had pace for more this weekend,” says Felix Rosenqvist. “The car felt good here – better than at Hockenheim two weeks ago – but we never really got the opportunity to prove what we were really capable of. I didn’t plan my qualifying outing brilliantly, and when the tyres were at their best I ran into traffic and yellow flags. Luckily, we managed to limit the damage thanks to two good races, but I’m obviously not entirely satisfied with how things went this weekend.”

Making his first-ever appearance at the Grand Prix de Pau, Rosenqvist spent the opening two practice sessions acquainting himself with the demanding street circuit, before a good start in Race 1 enabled the Swede to take the chequered flag in fourth place overall – and second among the FIA European Formula 3 Championship drivers. Race 2 then saw the Mücke Motorsport man produce “the best start of his career” to gain a full four places on the run down to Turn 1.

“I’ve done a few really good starts lately, but the one I did in Race 2 was definitely the best I’ve ever done,” Rosenqvist concludes. “I posted the third quickest lap time of the race and managed to stay with the group ahead of me relatively easy, and I think overall we have to be happy with the outcome considering where we were after qualifying. I’m already looking ahead to the next race, though, and hopefully we’ll finally manage to get every part of the package together by then.”

The next round of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship takes place at Brands Hatch, Great Britain, already next weekend, at an event which will also mark the return of Formula 3 Euro Series to the limelight.

While Gabby’s primary focus for the past few years has always been to reach the upper echelons of motorsports, he is also making time to help promote safe driving on the streets and highways. This led the former Italian Formula 3 Championship Rookie of the Year and Formula BMW Americas champion being invited by Sergeant Mark Wysocky of the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to be part of a Drivers Ed program in South Florida, and subsequently recommended him as the spokesperson for the new “Take 5 To Stay Alive – Don’t Text and Drive” campaign.

Currently 16% of all distracted driving crashes involve drivers under the age of 20, with texting being the primary cause. In effort to help prevent these crashes and save lives, the “Take 5 To Stay Alive – Don’t Text and Drive” campaign is focused on young drivers. As an 18 year-old with vast driving experience and training, Chaves is the ideal voice for the new program. As one of the 18 young drivers from the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy, Chaves is receiving advanced testing and training in and out of the car, covering all aspects of driver performance and safety. Using the skills gained from multiple FIA workshops throughout the year, he will promote road safety and responsible driving throughout the Americas.

The “Take 5 To Stay Alive – Don’t Text and Drive” campaign kick-off event took place on May 11, where Commissioner La Marca and Ralph Marrinson read the Proclamation by the Board of County Commissioners designating the month of May as “Take 5 to Stay Alive- Don’t text and Drive” month.

“It’s simple to do and can save your life. Take a break from driving and pull off the road to use your cell phone”, stated Commissioner La Marca. …”sending or receiving a text message takes a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent of driving the length of a football field blindfolded at 55 mph”, he added.

Gabby will now travel to Vienna, Austria, to take part in the fourth FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy workshop. The four-day training (15-18 May) will take place at TTI’s Road Safety Training Centre, where drivers will learn the skills they need to perform basic road safety training for different target groups. They will also learn about training methodology, scientific research and the positive influence of road safety training on society.

The participants then take to the track for a series of training exercises, which will further develop their skills in the craft of being road safety ambassadors. This includes tests using slaloms, skid-plates and low friction surfaces to emulate the conditions that can catch out the unwary or untrained. The course concludes with participants making a presentation on road safety, which sets out to demonstrate the progress they have made towards becoming road safety ambassadors…

After his training at the FIA Institute, Gabby will return to the U.S.A to compete in Round Five of the Star Mazda Championship on May 26, at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis as part of the Night Before the 500. He enters the opening oval event on the series calendar currently third in the title chase.

Stunning the paddock with a remarkable qualifying performance on his category bow at Snetterton over Easter weekend, locking out pole position for all three races in atrocious conditions, the Ginetta ambassador went on to record his debut victory with a tremendous drive in round two.

Concluding the event second in the championship, the talented Marford racer has certainly set his stall out impressively so soon in his first year of single-seater competition – especially among a field of drivers with much greater levels of experience.

Seb is the first to acknowledge the depth of talent in Protyre Formula Renault BARC this year and also the tough challenge he’ll face at Rockingham to continue his superb momentum. However, his confidence is justifiably high as he bids for more podiums and, hopefully, race wins.

“We had a lot of firsts at Snetterton – my first pole positions in a single-seater, my first races in a Formula Renault in the wet, and my first win in the championship”, said Seb, “It didn’t all go according to plan though. Obviously qualifying was great but I made a few mistakes in the races and without those I should have been leading the championship.

“Our expectations are high for Rockingham and we’ll try and do our best, whether it’s wet or dry I’m comfortable with the car so whatever the weather throws at us we should be fast. I know the races will be hard, there’s some really tough competition, but I’m sure we’ll be quick. We’ve been strong each time we’ve tested at Rockingham so there’s no reason we shouldn’t be again next weekend.”

In addition to his preparations for the second race meeting of the season and his ambassadorial work for Ginetta Cars, Seb has also been studying hard for his GCSE exams which begin today, Friday, 11th May. Well aware of the huge importance the next few weeks will have on his academic future, The King’s School, Chester pupil knows he has to strike a keen balance with his motor racing.

“I’ve been putting a lot of focus on school over the last few weeks, we’ve had a couple of runs in the car since Snetterton but it’s been mainly about preparing for my exams – the first one is this week and then there are more exams next week during the build-up to Rockingham”, he added, “When I’m back in the car at Rockingham though, all of my focus will be on the track and trying to win.”

Following a test run next Friday, 18th May, qualifying for rounds four and five of the Protyre Formula Renault BARC season will take place on Saturday, 19th May, at 09.30 and 12.10 respectively. Both races will follow on Sunday, 20th May, with round four set to begin at 10.55 and round five at 15.35.

2012 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship Driver Standings (after Rd3):
1st Josh Webster, 88pts; 2nd Seb Morris, 74pts

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.

Having marked himself out as one to watch since taking a memorable win on his championship debut last September, also at Al Ain, the Indian-born 13-year-old has been a consistent front-running threat and rounds-out the season with yet more silverware for his rapidly growing trophy cabinet.

Cyrus, younger brother of Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup racer Shahaan, headed into Saturday’s Final in determined mood after a difficult Pre-Final where he had to stop midway through when the exhaust baffle on his Rotax Junior Max kart flew off.

Racing impressively to come out on top of the 18-lap Final with victory after a tight, four-way battle, the Dubai-based youngster also managed to post the fastest lap with a superb performance. With just a couple of years’ racing experience under his belt, this has undoubtedly been Cyrus’ strongest campaign yet and he is justly delighted to have ended the 12-round series as Vice-Champion.

“I was extremely focused this weekend with it being the last round of the season, I was determined to give it my very best and try and win”, he said, “The Final was tough and my rivals performed really well – it was one train right up to the chequered flag.

“I want to thank Kieran [Crawley] for giving me a great setup for the Final, it was perfect. Winning the race was great but to have the fastest lap time as well, and be Vice-Champion, is a fantastic way for me to end the season.”

With no racing taking place in the UAE now until September, in order to remain sharp and hone his skills further Cyrus is planning to contest several kart races in Europe over the coming months where schooling commitments at home in Dubai allow.

Kieran Crawley, team principal of renowned UK-based team M Sport which took Matthew Graham to the CIK-FIA Under 18 World Karting Championship title in 2011, currently looks after Cyrus’ racing programme in the UAE. Understandably, he was absolutely delighted with performance produced by his teenage protégé this past weekend at Al Ain.

“Cyrus did a fantastic job in the Final, he drove incredibly well and really did prove to us what he’s capable of”, said Crawley, “His pace was fantastic, he made plenty of great passes and was also able to defend perfectly when he got into the lead. I’m returning home to the UK very happy indeed!”

In little over two years, Cyrus Engineer has become a force to be reckoned with in the Middle East karting scene but he has already made his presence felt in Europe and the UK too. Debuting in 2009 at the world-famous Genk Circuit in Belgium, the then 10-year-old claimed a sensational podium finish driving for GKS Lemmens in the Micro-Max class of the Belgian Rotax Championship.

Keen to improve as quickly as possible, Cyrus joined forces with former CIK-FIA World Karting Champion Oliver Oakes for the following season and travelled to the UK where he raced in one of the toughest karting arenas anywhere on the globe.

Racing in Comer Cadets in the Formula One Management and Lewis Hamilton-backed Formula Kart Stars series, Cyrus also competed in the prestigious Super 1 Championship – the career springboard for current Grand Prix stars such as Jenson Button and Paul Di Resta.

At the end of 2010, having returned to the family home in Dubai, Cyrus graduated to the faster Junior Max karting category. Just as he managed on his very first outing in Belgium two years prior, he stood on the podium at his first attempt.

For all the latest information regarding Cyrus Engineer’s racing, please visit www.cyrusengineer.com

The 21 year-old set the pace in both free practice sessions on Friday, before notching up a third pole position in qualifying later that day, for the opening round on Saturday. Although his victory in race one ultimately proved dominant, the Tonbridge racer bringing his SuperNova Zytek V8-engined Lola home 29 seconds ahead of his team-mate, the start was not as straightforward as he would have liked.

At the lights both Quaife-Hobbs and his team-mate struggled with wheelspin and were passed by Pål Varhaug and Sergey Sirotkin, the latter arriving at Turn 1 far too quickly and running wide, forcing Adrian slightly off line. This allowed Varhaug to take the lead, but Sirotkin responded, reclaiming the position at Turn 2.

The pair continued their battle for the lead with Quaife-Hobbs keeping a watching brief, and when the duo collided at the last corner of the opening lap, Adrian was in prime position and wasted no time in seizing the place. His dominant pace over the course of the race was impressive, extending his advantage to more than 20 seconds before the mandatory pit stop on lap 15.

Rejoining the track still in the lead, he was thereafter never headed, as he consistently posted the fastest lap to take a convincing third victory – his sixth podium finish from seven rounds.

Sunday’s race saw him take up eighth place on the reverse grid line-up and a superb start allowed him to overhaul three cars to head into turn one in fifth place. By the second corner he was up to fourth, in among a three-car battle for the runner-up spot.

A crash involving another car on lap two necessitated the deployment of the safety car and at the restart Adrian made a brilliant move to claim third place. For several laps the leading trio were locked in a three-way battle for position, until Varhaug and Quaife-Hobbs both found a way past the erstwhile race leader, Adrian getting the better exit from the last corner to gain second place on the inside of Turn 1.

From then on the battle for victory proved hard-fought with the duo never separated by less than a second. A superb pit stop by the SuperNova team on lap 14 brought Adrian out in super quick time, however an even better one by his rival allowed Varhaug to just hold on to the lead, exiting the pits by the smallest of margins.

Over the remaining five laps, Quaife-Hobbs continued to pile on the pressure, several times the pair running side-by-side as they jostled for position. On the penultimate lap, the relentless charge forced the Norwegian into a mistake, which allowed Adrian one final chance to wrest the lead. However Varhaug had overboost in reserve and gradually extended his advantage on the very last lap, Quaife-Hobbs crossing the line still just 0.8seconds behind.

“It’s been a good weekend overall and it’s great to come away with an extended series lead,” said Adrian. “The start in race one didn’t go entirely as planned; I’d practiced a couple of starts during the pre-grid and warm up laps and I saw that the grip was good, I had no wheelspin at all, so I thought that using a bit more throttle in the real start would have been good, but I was wrong and I had too much wheelspin.

“The start was the only bad moment of that race and I knew that my advantage was such that I could have passed both at the pit-stop, just staying out a couple of laps more than them if it was the case.

“Second place in race two after winning on Saturday isn’t bad, but at the same time I’m naturally disappointed because I came just 0”8 tenths shy of the perfect weekend. I had clinched the fastest lap time in each session, the fastest lap in both races, I won race one, so I was just missing this race two win to achieve something that had never been done before in the championship history.

“We came very close to making it, but Pål (Varhaug) held on well. It was good race, hard-fought but fair, I enjoyed it. I will always go for a win if there is a chance, I want to win races because I’m also sure that it’s the best way to secure the title. I’m not going to take stupid risks, that’s obvious, but I’ll never back off if I see that a win is possible.”

The next rounds of the 14-round series will take place at Portimao, Portugal over the weekend of 2&3 June.

For more information click onto www.quaifehobbs.com and follow the latest news and live timings on www.autogp.org and http://www.supernova-racing.com/ with live twitter feeds.

Dymond driving for the Parr Motorsport team made his intentions known from the start. With no Friday testing immediately prior to the weekend, the 30 minute qualifying on Saturday afternoon was the drivers first time on track.

With a wet and greasy but drying track, conditions were difficult for all, initially opting for wets, Dymond after only a handful of laps pitted.

“The circuit was drying quite fast with all the cars on wets and the strong wind, the wets were ruined, but it wasn’t quite dry enough to try slicks, so we waited.”

Dymond sat for nearly fifteen minutes whilst track conditions improved, then with just under 6 minutes to go Paul Robe (Parr team owner) gave the call and Dymond was sent out.

“Whilst sat there I honestly wondered if this was the right call as spits of rain were still appearing on my screen. But full credit to Paul (Robe) he called it perfectly, I went out knowing I’d only have one maybe two laps to get the tyres up to temperature and set the time, the complex was still pretty wet but mostly dry or big dry patches everywhere else, my favourite track conditions, I worked the tyres hard and the lap came together. It was a bit of a shame that my second flying lap was cut with a yellow flag but I’m very pleased with the performance!”

Dymond’s single lap on the slicks placed him 4th on the grid for Sundays 1st race, round 5 of the championship. Sunday morning saw a significant change in weather, as forecasts proved to be correct. Torrential rain and strong winds flooded and rocked the Hampshire circuit.

Due the circuit having significant amounts of standing water around its entire length, round 5 of the championship was started single file under the safety car giving the drivers the chance to see the state of the circuit before they tackled it at full racing speeds.
Starting 4th Dymond made a strong start holding position through the opening 3 laps, before being passed and moving to 6th having damaged his front splitter on lap 5.

“I made a good start and was right on the tail of the top 3, visibility was appalling, there was so much water and the wind caused the spray kicked up by the cars to basically form a wall of water, at times it was pretty touch and go. I think I lost my splitter when I was right up behind Ben (Barker) early on going into the chicane, I literally couldn’t see a thing, he was maybe 1 car length ahead I knew by instinct the chicane was close so I pulled right and hit the brakes but was about 3 or 4 car lengths shy of where I thought I was and slowed a bit too much so when I hit the kerb it damaged the splitter causing a lot of under steer till the end of the race”
Dymond wasn’t alone in losing his front splitter both Dan Lloyd (running 5th) and the race leader at the time Richard Plant had lost their splitters in the same way.

“There were people’s splitters littering the circuit at the chicane and complex, and I could see I was starting to catch both Dan (Lloyd) and Richard Plant with about 10 laps to go, I was catching quite fast and got to Dan’s (Lloyd) bumper at the complex but the rain was coming down hard again and out the back of the circuit I just couldn’t see, so as a result couldn’t try for a move!”

As the race moved into its final stages the torrential rain had returned and even though the cars were running on wet tyres with full wet setups aquaplaning was becoming more frequent as the standing water built up once more.

On the final lap Dymond was holding sixth place having dropped back slightly from Lloyd due to visibility.

“I came through turn one and the car kicked out; because it was so wet I couldn’t really tell if it was a puncture from all the debris or the standing water causing aquaplaning, I kept on it and as I came out the complex everything was fine but as I turned into the left hander at Noble the car kicked once and then again it happened so fast it has to have been standing water before I knew it I was on the grass, luckily I gathered it up and rejoined but by then 2 cars had slipped by.”

Dymond recovered to cross the line in 7th place after the car of Glen Geddie was given a time penalty for cutting the chicane.

“That was a tough race, throughout visibility was dire and at the end when the standing water came back the track was very unpredictable, I’m pleased though it was my first time driving this car in the wet and took a few laps to figure out but the pace was good once I’d worked it out and even with the broken splitter I could catch cars or pull away from cars with splitters intact. There’s a chance the 2nd race will be dry so I’m looking forward to that, we showed yesterday in qualifying we can run in the top 4 if the track is dry but I guess we’ll have to see what the weather does.”

For round 6 of the championship later in the afternoon, the sky had cleared and the track was drying, presenting teams with a difficult decision of what tyres to run!?

Dymond opted for slicks as did the whole of field.

“It was really touch and go with what tyres to use, it looked like it did before qualifying yesterday and from that we knew wets wouldn’t last the distance so we choose slicks.”

The race was started from a normal standing start and with the track wet several cars spun the rear tyres, Dymond made a good start and immediately picked up several positions from his 9th starting spot.

“I made a good start and jumped a few places on the opening lap, the track was definitely not dry but we were all banking on it drying quickly, everyone was pretty cautious and struggling to find grip. I’d driven clean round the outside of several cars and found myself trying to do the same to Ben (Barker).”

Dymond was running in 7th place and applying pressure to those in front throughout the opening laps.

“I was really able to capitalise on people being quite tentative, especially as out the back of the circuit the rain started to fall again.”
With the rain starting to fall again just as in race 1 the circuit began to be littered with debris as the track conditions became perilously slippery with all the cars still running on slick tyres.

“We’d all managed to just about get some temperature into our tyres when the rain came down, it was so slippery all of a sudden at the chicane the road was covered in splitters I had no choice but to drive over them and doing that took mine off.”

Dymond was losing about 2/3 seconds a lap to the cars in front once he lost the splitter and that allowed cars behind to close the gap too.
As the race progressed the rain began to fall harder but at times would stop completely. During the final ten laps the rain was constant and Dymond was battling hard with Richard Plant.

“Every lap was different it was pretty hairy at times, Richard (Plant) caught me pretty quick once I lost the front especially through the fast stuff but seemed to struggle getting the power down so I could keep him behind but all the way it was really close, as we went on to the final lap he was right there, as we approached the chicane I was still ahead but on the exit I guess it was a bit wetter than before I got back to the throttle and the rear wheels just lit up it was a real drag race to the line as we crossed the line we were neck and neck I couldn’t tell if he was ahead or not it was so close.”

Dymond lost out to Plant by 0.010 of a second as the pair crossed the line to finish 9th.

“I thought the first race was hard work, but that was unreal! This circuit with slicks in the rain, driving these cars was definitely a challenge to say the least! But a real testament to the level of driver there is in this series, Richard (Plant) and I battled hard lap after lap but never once touched even though we were sliding all over the place!”

“It’s been a good weekend, I’ve shown to everyone the pace we’re capable of now, it’s a very encouraging platform to build strongly off now for the rest of year. Looking forward to Oulton Park in 6 weeks time now!”

Rounds 7 & 8 of the Porsche Carrera cup GB will take place at the historic Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire over the weekend of June 9th and 10th
You can follow Chris via Twitter and Facebook.
Twitter: @C_Dymondracing
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Chris-Dymond/97560217811

Photo by Tom Dymond.

While qualifying didn’t go fully to plan for either Harrison or team-mate Pepe Massot, both first-year drivers produced superb performances in incredibly difficult race conditions to each secure healthy points finishes.

Starting Saturday afternoon’s race from the fifth row of the grid, an outing in which the Clerk of the Course ruled all drivers had to compete on treaded tyres due to the inclement weather, 15-year-old Harrison progressed into ninth on lap one before usurping Keith Donegan for eighth at mid-distance.

Massot, meanwhile, wasn’t able to capitalise on his top four starting slot and slipped to fifth initially before being edged back into sixth on lap five. As the race neared its conclusion on lap 10, the fight for sixth closed up with the Spaniard just ahead of then points leader Sennan Fielding and Harrison.

Heading up Woodham Hill on the approach to Club Chicane for the final time on lap 11, the trio ran almost three abreast into the braking zone. While Massot held on to sixth and second in the Rookie classification, Fielding didn’t get the best drive out of the corner and that gave Harrison all the invitation he needed to grab seventh on the line by a mere 0.088 seconds.

Non-stop rain on Sunday morning led to a fully wet track for round six with Harrison lining-up on the fourth row in seventh place ahead of Massot in ninth. With no let-up in the rain or the harsh winds, officials elected to begin the race from behind the Safety Car and when racing proper started on lap three, Harrison moved into the top five before challenging for fourth at Allard next time around.

Running fifth for the remainder of the race, the Oxfordshire driver did come under pressure from William Palmer during the closing stages but held firm to retain his hard-earned fifth place finish by 0.4 seconds – second in the Rookie class.

Massot, hampered by a heavily steamed-up windscreen caused by an issue with the demister on his Ginetta G40, slipped to eighth place early on but did battle into seventh before being edged back to eighth by Fielding who was recovering after an earlier moment. Added to his round five result, the finish enabled car racing rookie Massot to conclude the weekend back in the championship top 10.

“We’ve had exceptionally difficult circumstances this weekend but we’re very pleased with the performances of both Nathan and Pepe in incredibly tough conditions”, said team principal Richard Ollerenshaw, “Other than the official test a few weeks ago, this was Nathan’s first visit to Thruxton while Pepe hadn’t even seen the track before going out into free practice on Saturday!

“Nathan did a fantastic job with two very strong drives, the weather was terrible all weekend and he coped well with the challenges it presented. Pepe too had a strong weekend but he did struggle with visibility in race two as the heated windscreen packed-up, we’re not sure if it was caused by a fuse or a relay issue. All in all, it’s been a positive weekend and we’re now looking forward to Oulton Park where we’re aiming to have a third car back out in the championship.”

Rounds seven and eight of the Ginetta Junior Championship will take place six weeks from now over the weekend 9th/10th June at Oulton Park Island Circuit in Cheshire. Before then, Hillspeed’s Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship squad will be back in action on 19th/20th May at Rockingham in Northamptonshire for the fourth and fifth rounds of its 2012 season.

2012 Ginetta Junior Championship Driver Standings (after Rd6):
6th Nathan Harrison, 92pts; 10th Pepe Massot, 64pts

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.

“Finishing 7th and 9th overall after starting from P16 was really the maximum result possible,” said Darryl after achieving pleasing results on his Slovakia debut.

After a disappointing qualifying session earlier in the weekend, a transformed O’Young turned aggressive from the start. In each of the two races, the team STR driver started strongly to overtake several cars in the opening lap. And by staying incident-free in both races, the Hong Kong ace outpaced no less than seven opponents in each round.

The Canadian born O’Young has now bagged 22 independent points thus far this season. He is only three behind the fifth-placed Italian driver Alberto Cerqui. The results also see the 32-year-old moved up three positions into 13th overall in the world championship standings.

Round 9 & 10 of the 2012 season will be held later this week in Hungary where Darryl scored one of his independent podiums last season.

Qualifying 1 at Slovakia Ring – Independent P8 & Overall P16

“Looking ahead we must work on getting stronger qualifying results.”

Race 1 at Slovakia Ring (2012 round 7) – Independent P6 & Overall P7

“It was important to come out of race 1 without incident so my car would be in good condition to fight again in race 2.”

Race 2 at Slovakia (2012 round – Independent P6 & Overall P9

“I had the race pace to match the front of the field, but having to start from P16 just loses too much time and it is difficult to recover from that.”

Sponsors LKM and A-Ha Coffee are the major forces behind Darryl’s pursuit of success in the 2012 FIM World Touring Car Championship. Please visit www.fiawtcc.com for more WTCC information and www.darryloyoung.com for the latest updates about Darryl.