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Formula
Renault UK Championship 2006 |
Armaan
braves extreme weather conditions and big crashes
to finish 2nd in the Graduate cup and 11th overall
The
round 4 of the Formula Renault UK championship was at the Knockhill circuit
in Scotland on the 18th of June. Yet another circuit in which 17 year old
Indian driver Armaan Ebrahim had never been to and had to literally go into
qualifying blind.
Armaan started the second race from being 21st on the grid out of a total
of 28 cars. The weather conditions were terrible with torrential rain the
whole day. The circuit was very slippery with a lot of water causing many
cars to aquaplane and loose control.
Armaan put in a blinder of a start and moved up to 17th by lap 6.The race
was red flagged on lap 7 due to a huge accident. The re start of the race
saw Armaan fight his way up to 11th place overall and 2nd in the Graduate
cup, in blind fold conditions with a huge spray of water in front of him.
The front rows of cars were lucky as the visibility was quite good for them.
But for the cars behind, it was virtually impossible to see where they were
going because the huge water sprays from the cars in front. Towards the latter
part of the race there was a huge accident with a couple of cars doing summersaults
and rolling over and one car spinning into the pit lane.
The race was stopped with just a couple of laps to go due to bad weather conditions,
but as more than 75% of the race distance was completed the race was counted.
In race 1, Armaan again made use of the extreme weather conditions to move
up to 16th place after starting 21st.The race was red flagged in lap 6 with
one of the cars crashing heavily. The race resumed after 2 laps after the
debris was cleared and this gave an opportunity to Armaan to pass another
6 cars moving up to 10th overall. But on lap 10 Armaan entered the hairpin
too fast and hit a puddle of water, locked up his brakes and went straight
into the tyre barrier.
Commented Armaan: The conditions were treacherous and I have never raced in
such conditions before. Nevertheless it was good fun and a fantastic learning
experience. I should have finished in the top 10 overall in race 1,but made
a bad mistake in trying to make up more places and crashing out heavily. The
team did a great job to get the car ready in time for race 2, which was very
satisfying for the team and myself as I had never been to this circuit before.
From the next race onwards, things should be easier as I have tested at least
for a day on the circuits that we will be racing on.
Armaan is sponsored by JK Tyres, Amaron, Speed
and Elf India. The next round is on July 16th at the Croft circuit
in the UK.