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THEODORE SHOWS GOOD FORM IN OFFICIAL PRE-SEASON FR BARC TEST

Official pre-season Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship testing took place at Rockingham in Northamptonshire yesterday, Wednesday, 29th April, with Hillspeed’s James Theodore producing an impressive top four performance. 

The Liberty Properties-backed racer, who is the reigning Formula Renault BARC Winter Champion, posted a best lap time of 1m 19.248 seconds (88.12mph) during the afternoon session to conclude the sole officially timed test day of the pre-season fourth overall. 

Hillspeed team-mate Ellis Harkins, making his first track appearance since the final round of the 2008 Formula Renault BARC Championship last October, ended the day 13th fastest with a time of 1m 22.256 seconds (84.90mph). 

With the first round of the 2009 season now just over three weeks away – Saturday, 23rd May at Oulton Park Island Circuit in Cheshire – today’s test run marked the first time the Formula Renault BARC competitors had the benefit of official timing. 

During the three-hour morning session, Telford-based Theodore was in terrific form and ended up with the second fastest time of 1m 19.299 seconds (88.07mph) – just two 10ths of a second shy of experienced Formula Renault BARC driver Brett Parris. In the afternoon, he marginally improved his best but was compromised on his new tyre run due to a session stoppage. 

Harkins spent the morning bedding himself back into things having not been in a race car of any description for six months. Posting a lap of 1m 23.095 seconds (84.04mph) in the first session, he improved by eight 10ths of a second during the three-hour afternoon session, pleasing the team. 

The 22-year-old Irish national, who was actually born in the Philippines and then spent the majority of his formative years living in the Middle East, embarks on his second season of Formula Renault BARC action this year having previously made selected Formula BMW outings in Bahrain. 

For 17-year-old Theodore, the 2009 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship will mark his first full season in single-seaters having debuted at the end of 2008 with Hillspeed before taking part in the winter championship where he claimed the BARC class title with three wins from four outings.

We’re very pleased, James did a great job to be fourth fastest and he’s proving himself to be a very capable front-runner in Formula Renault BARC”, said team principal Richard Ollerenshaw, “Ellis is fitting in to the team well and he lapped about a second quicker than he managed on his last run at Rockingham in 2008. Considering he hasn’t been in a car for six months, that’s encouraging.” 

Hillspeed’s Ahmad Al Harthy, who will begin the 2009 season as one of the undoubted BARC title favourites, wasn’t able to attend today’s test at Rockingham but will travel to the UK from his home in Oman for a general test session at Oulton Park next Friday, 8th May. He will be joined at the test by Theodore and Harkins.

In the meantime, Hillspeed’s Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship squad will be back in action next Wednesday, 6th May, and Thursday, 7th May, for a two-day official test outing at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire.
The fifth and sixth rounds of the season will then follow on 16th/17th May at Hillspeed’s home track, Donington Park near Derby. Official pre-event testing will be held on Thursday, 14th May.