Race 1: Qualified 2nd, Finished 1st
Race 2: Qualified 1st, Finished 1st

Duncan took two wins yesterday at Norfolk’s Snetterton circuit. In Race One he went from second on the grid to win after his pole sitting team-mate had a problem at the start, while in the second race the start went against Duncan but he won the first lap battle and led to the end. The points put him back at the top of the championship table with six races remaining.

Saturday’s qualifying went well. Duncan was happy with his car set-up but missed out on one of the two pole positions by a tiny fraction of a second. Rain overnight had washed the circuit and so the conditions for race day were slippery with the first race taking place on a drying track which was wet off-line. Following Dean Smith’s start line glitch, Duncan took the lead and stayed there for the 18-lap race. His initial lead was reduced when a safety car was deployed in the early stages, but from the restart Duncan pulled away from the rest. A red flag shortened the race by three laps but by then he had managed to set the fastest lap of the race and pull ahead of Adam Christodoulou by over one second.

Race Two’s start was Duncan’s biggest challenge of the weekend with the car slowing momentarily at the start, allowing Riki Christodoulou and Will Bratt to make bids for the lead. Duncan managed to get a tow and retake the pair as Riki missed a gear and from there he didn’t look back. Dean Smith had moved into second place and pushed Duncan for the whole race with the pair taking turns at setting new fastest laps but Dean couldn’t get close enough and Duncan took the chequered flag for his second victory of the day.

Duncan said: “In Race One I’d had a good practice start on the warm-up and judged it well. I saw Dean get away and then his car seemed to die but I managed to get in a really good first lap. I got a good restart after the Safety Car period and from there it was a case of keeping it on the black stuff.

“It wasn’t easy. The track was much slower than yesterday and people were going off and bringing stuff back onto the track. The start for the second race was tough. Other than that it was a great race. Dean kept getting a better run on the straight but I managed to keep well ahead once I’d built the initial gap.

“Overall it’s been a brilliant weekend and great to be back on the top step of the podium for the team, my Mum and Dad and my manager.”

Duncan’s next event is at Brands Hatch on 18th and 19th August.

•   Filed under: Formula Renault UK
•   Tagged as: Dean Smith, Fortec Motorsport, podium finishes, Snetterton