Svendsen-Cook on the pace in Spa

30/08/2009

The Raikkonen Robertson Formula BMW Europe team enjoyed a strong outing at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium this weekend with two fourth place finishes for Rupert Svendsen-Cook and a sixth place finish for Ollie Millroy on his first outing with the British squad.

The Raikkonen Robertson team fought back from a difficult practice session on Friday morning, as set up changes before qualifying saw Svendsen-Cook qualify in sixth place.  The British racer made a good start and pushed hard to pass fourth place man Olivier Lombard, but some over zealous weaving by Lombard made a safe move impossible.  Svendsen-Cook would later take the fourth place after the racing had finished, as Lombard was disqualified for a technical infringement.  New team mate Millroy meanwhile was unable to finish the race, following a rear end impact which resulted in a mechanic failure on lap seven.   Gregoire Demoustier brought the third Raikkonen Robertson car home in 16th place. 

Starting from eighth place for race two, Svendsen-Cook was once again on the pace and overtaking the cars ahead; making up four places to cross the line in fourth place.  Behind him, Millroy put in the drive of the race, moving up from 15th on the grid to take a competitive sixth place finish, putting two of the Raikkonen Robertson cars in the top six.  Demoustier meanwhile went on to cross the line in 18th place. 

Speaking about his weekend, Svendsen-Cook said, “We tried a bit of a low downforce set up for practice which gave us a good set up for the race, but clearly wasn’t the way to go for one lap ultimate pace.  We added a bit more downforce for qualifying, which was just about right. 

“I was pleased with our qualifying performance and I knew we had a good car, so I was just aiming to keep the nose clean and move up the order.  Thankfully I was able to do that in both races as we had really good race pace throughout.  Two fourth places is a really good result and moves me up the driver standings.  I think we’re in good shape now for the last race of the season in Monza, which is a circuit I really like.”

Team principal Anthony Hieatt added, “Rupert did a really good job this weekend, he was very consistent and raced brilliantly to make up places in both races.  Ollie was also very strong and adapted very well to the Formula BMW having been driving an F3 car recently.  He had a superb drive from the back of the field in the second race and we look forward to seeing what he can do at the final round in Monza.”