Strong finish for Reddy at Brands Hatch

Indian racer Tarun Reddy continued his progress in the Protyre Formula Renault Championship by finishing fourth and sixth in the double header at the famous Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, England.
The 16-year-old was competitive all weekend in what was the third event of his debut UK season, moving him up to fifth place in the championship at the halfway point with three more rounds remaining.
Reddy was fastest in two of the four sessions of free practice on Friday in his MGR Motorsport car, therefore to take fourth and fifth positions the two qualifying sessions was a disappointment.
Qualifying is important at Brands Hatch, where it is notoriously difficult to overtake.

The first race saw little place changing. At first Reddy dropped back from the leading trio, but his car's handling improved as the race wore on and he closed up again, setting the third fastest lap on his way to fourth place.
A clutch problem at the start of race two meant he almost stalled, losing several places. He had recovered to eighth by the end of lap one, and a few laps later pulled off a spectacular pass on American TJ Fischer around the outside of the Druids hairpin to take seventh. Then, on the ninth lap, he passed Scottish racer Colin Noble Jr at Graham Hill Bend to move up to sixth. From then on, Reddy chased Canadian Patrick Dussault, but whenever he got close enough to think of a move, that robbed downforce from the front of his car, losing him time again.

Reddy was happy with his progress.

"was happy to top two of the four sessions on Friday, because it meant we were looking good for qualifying. But unfortunately I didn't maximize what I had, and P4 and P5 is what I got. In the first race I had a lot of understeer early on, and by the time I really got going I started reeling them in, but it was too late.
"Race two started badly because when the clutch was fully engaged there was a problem with it, so I had to put my foot on the brake and almost stalled. It's extremely hard to overtake at Brands so I was pleased with my moves, but the loss of aero behind Dussault meant I couldn't make a pass on him, even though I think I was two or three tenths quicker."

The next race weekend is at the Snetterton circuit in Norfolk on August 30-31.