Manor and Singleton join Formula Renault UK entry list

Manor Competition has registered three drivers for the 2009 Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship, with a fourth possible before official testing begins on Tuesday, 24th February. Dutchman Thomas Hylkema is joined by Britons David McDonald (Ewell) and Alice Powell (Chipping Norton) at the team which took Alexander Sims to the Vice-Champion’s spot last season.

Manor is famous for running Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton to the Formula Renault UK title in 2000 and 2003 respectively and also won the driver’s championship in 2005 with Oliver Jarvis. McDonald and Hylkema both have experience of the Formula Renault 2.0 car, while Powell is set to be the youngest driver on the grid at 16-years-old and will be the first female competitor in the Formula Renault UK Championship since Pippa Mann in 2006.

Hylkema finished 17th in the 2008 drivers’ standings with Mark Burdett Motorsport, his best result of eighth coming at Silverstone National circuit. McDonald finished sixth in the 2007 Formula Renault BARC Championship with two podiums. Powell is a familiar name on the British Touring Car support package having raced to ninth in the Ginetta Junior Championship with four podiums to her name.

Singleton name back in Formula Renault UK

A familiar surname returns to the Formula Renault UK grid in the form of privateer Ryan Singleton (Conwy). The 16-year-old Welshman is the brother of Richard Singleton, who won the 2006 Formula Renault BARC championship before going on to finish seventh in the 2007 Formula Renault UK Championship. Ryan won the 2006 British Super One Minimax title and then finished sixth in the 2007 Super One Formula Junior Rotax Max Championship. In 2008 he won the prestigious ‘O’ Plate title in Formula Junior Rotax Max.

The quartet join Hillspeed duo Michael Lyons (Felsted) and Menasheh Idafar (London), Alpine Motorsport’s Dean Stoneman (Southampton) and SSS Motorsport’s Lee Dwyer (Huddersfield) as confirmed entries for the 2009 season.