Christo notches best finish yet with second at Thruxton

Emerging British driving talent Riki Christodoulou scored second position at an overcast Thruxton last weekend in only his fifth event as part of the 2007 ‘Formula Renault UK with Michelin’ championship. The eighteen year old set the fastest lap on the way to his second consecutive podium result in what is so far an impressive maiden campaign in single-seater racing.

Rounds five and six took place at the fast and flat circuit in Hampshire. Fortec team member Christodoulou qualified in 8th position after a sunny pair of sessions on Saturday but the day was not without incident. “In the second qualification session I had a spin after locking the rear end and couldn’t really find my rhythm afterwards in the time I had left,” he said. “I had struggled with my starts at the first races but I am quickly learning about this car and what I can do. This time I did not have any trouble and nailed it perfectly off the grid.”

‘Christo’ launched into second place as the first outing became a matter of defence and then attack. “I had a bit of pressure in the first part of the race but after that it was pretty straight forward,” he recounted. “I tried hard to get with the leader but just lacked that little bit of oomph to get on his rear wheel. Still, I set the fastest lap and then decided to ease off in the last moments to save my tyres for the second race.”

The second affair saw a moment of misfortune as the Sutton Coldfield resident ran off the track but he then reeled off a superb set of laps to work his way back from dead-last to eleventh. “Again I got away well from eighth position and it was a bit chaotic in the complex section but I moved into seventh,” he continued. “I had run a little bit off line and my tyres picked up some rubbish and as I went into Goodwood I understeered off the track into a spin. I managed to re-start and was seventeen seconds behind the last driver but drove well to overtake about six or seven cars before the chequered flag for eleventh place; that wasn’t too bad considering.”

Christo had moved up to fourth in the championship after the initial race but then dropped back to fifth in the wake of his excursion. He still feels he is scaling a steep learning curve with confidence. “Thruxton is a really good track and I enjoyed it. I am still learning from my mistakes but I feel full of confidence about what I can do in this championship,” he added. “The car feels more natural to me each time and even the team’s technicians have commented on how quick I have adapted. Gauging and finding out about all these new circuits is also becoming a faster process and I can’t wait for the next race now.”

The fourth meeting of the series (that runs as a support event to the British Touring Car Championship) will take place at the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire on June 2nd/3rd. Riki will have a two day testing session at the venue before then and an update on how he fares can be found on his website.

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