Will Stevens (Oxshott, Surrey) and Lewis Williamson kicked-off the official Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship pre-season in perfect style for Manor Competition at Brands Hatch this week – the New Ollerton team heading both days of testing with a terrific display.

Stevens underlined his position as a genuine title challenger during the second day of running at the Kent track’s 1.2-mile Indy Circuit yesterday, Wednesday, 3rd March, with a stunning time of 42.968 seconds (100.42mph) – the only racer to dip below the 43 second mark.

Placing him two 10ths of a second clear of his closest rival on the day, the 18-year-old’s push during the final few minutes also meant he ended the first officially timed outing of 2010 as the fastest driver of all on combined times, 0.123 seconds ahead of team-mate Williamson.

The Scottish 20-year-old, who resides in Golspie, headed the timings on Tuesday, 2nd March, with a best lap of 43.091 seconds (100.13mph) in the afternoon. Lapping in the top five during the first morning, Williamson leapt to the top of the timesheets in session two to head reigning Graduate Cup Champion Harry Tincknell by an impressive 0.211 seconds.

During the second day of testing on Wednesday, he achieved a lap of 43.261 seconds (99.74mph) which placed him fifth overall. On combined times for the entire test though, Williamson’s Tuesday best of 43.091 seconds meant he ended up with the second fastest lap of all. He and Stevens were also the only two drivers to lap with an average speed of more than 100mph.

“It’s been a great start for us, it was fantastic to have Lewis on top of the times on Tuesday and then Will on top yesterday”, said Manor Competition’s Tony Shaw, “There’s a lot to learn with the new car but the team is working so hard and doing an unbelievable job. We’ve got a first class team of people at Manor but we’re not getting carried away, there’s a huge amount of hard work ahead.”