Happy Holmes Fourth and awarded 'Driver of the day..' | 20.08.07 | 11.28 Chris Holmes came away from Brands Hatch Indy Circuit yesterday with his best finish of the 2007 Formula Renault UK Championship in Race 2 (Round 16). Starting from 7th on the grid for the second of Sunday's two races, round 16 of the season, the Yorkshire sensation had a fantastic start passing Dean Smith and Kris Loane to reach 5th by the first lap, and looked to be putting forth-placed AKA Cobra team-mate Jeremy Metcalfe under some pressure. However Chris just wasn’t able to get close enough to really challenge Jeremy on the tight Brands Indy Circuit and although he continued to push, Chris had to settle for fifth a great result from seventh on the grid. Hours after the race, winner Duncan Tappy was excluded from the results due to his Fortec Motorsport car being deemed illegal, non-compliant with the regulations enforced by Formula Renault UK Chief Scrutineer Keith Auld. Chris was then brought forward to 4th place awarding Chris his best finish of 2007, but Tappy and his team are to appeal the exclusion. Race One (Round 15) started on a wet but drying track as the opening race of the day, Chris was starting in 15th position after struggling with some problems in qualifying session one, Chris aiming to just finish the race as passing on the Indy Circuit is difficult. After making a good start, the AKA Cobra-racer was up to 13th, Chris then challenged Dean Smith for 12 passing him only to run wide on the slippy exit kerb at Druids, Chris then really struggled with no grip at the front and was lacking pace, and fell back to a disappointing 17th. “Fifth was a good result in the race two, the car was great in the dry i just could not challenge Jeremy (Metcalfe) i was pushing hard every lap but the gap just stayed pretty constant” said Chris, “To then be told i have been given 4th after (Duncan) Tappy’s exclusion is obviously a good lift, and my best result i would have rather achieved it in the race, but it sends me to the next round positive after having a good solid result.” “It’s annoying first qualifying was so disappointing but thats racing and i knew i had race two to make up for it, and i am happy because thats as much as we could realistically have hoped for starting P7.” Chris' next Race Meeting will be away from the regular British Touring Car Championship package, Formula Renault UK will take place at Donington Grand Prix Circuit as support to the World Series by Renault package, with the biggest attendance of the year over 100,000 spectators are certain to attend. << back to news