6:30pm Tuesday 2nd June 2009
By Danny Hall
COTSWOLDS teenager Alice Powell has picked up a ‘Driver of the Day’ award for the second consecutive motor racing meeting.
Alice, whose ambition is to break into F1, earned the accolade by finishing tenth in the latest round of the Formula Renault Championship, held at the famous Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire.
It is this series which helped launch the career of Lewis Hamilton and Alice, 16, drives for the Formula 1 World Champion’s former team, Manor Competition. “It was a good weekend as I had my best ever results in qualifying – eight and ninth,” said Alice.
“Then, in the opening race itself, I made a good start but I was hit up the back at the first corner and had to come back to the pits to have a damaged wing replaced.
“The mechanics did a great job, but by the time I got back on the circuit, I had dropped back to 21st place, three laps behind the leaders. So I just decided to have a bit of a test run.
“In the second race, apart from a wheel spin, it all went well and I finished tenth, which is just one place worse than my best effort at Snetterton in the previous round.
“I feel it is all coming together and I am really looking forward to the next round at Croft in a fortnight.”
From the excitement of competing at 120mph in a motor race televised live on TV, it was back to earth the following day.
Alice was behind her desk at the Cotswold School in Bourton-on-the-Water taking her Maths GCSE exam.
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