2011 will be a learning year but hopes are still high for a top three finish in the championship. Driving coaches and mentors will be 2006 Formula Renault 2.0 UK champion Sebastian Hohenthal and the 2006 World Series by Renault champion Alx Danielsson.

Bouveng’s three year plan includes a seat in either the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup of the British championship for 2012 and a move to GP3 or F3 in 2013.

The Cardiff-based 20-year-old, who has been competing in the Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain for the past couple of seasons, is relishing the prospect of moving into the world of ‘slicks and wings’ racing and is scheduled to have his maiden test in an FR 2.0 car at Donington Park next week.

Born in Mumbai, Zaamin was initially raised in India but moved to the United Arab Emirates in his mid-teens where he had his first experience of competitive racing at the Dubai Kartdrome. Securing a podium finish during his maiden outing in the UAE National Karting Championship, he went on to become a consistent front-runner.

Moving to the UK in 2009 to begin a degree in Business Management (Logistics and Operations) at Cardiff University, Zaamin also graduated from karting to car racing with a move into the Scholarship Class of the Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain. Taking several class podiums along the way, he ended his maiden season an excellent fourth in the driver standings.

Stepping-up to the headline class in Formula Ford this year, Zaamin did encounter more than his fair share of bad luck but came through to achieve a best finish of fifth place at Donington Park during the penultimate race meeting of the season at the wheel of his Scholar-engined Ray. He closed-out the 2010 campaign 16th overall in the main driver standings.

“I’m really looking forward to my first test in the Renault with Hillspeed at Donington next week”, said Zaamin, “Last season in Formula Ford was tough and I had quite a bit of bad luck so I wasn’t able to show my true speed. I’m aiming to put that behind me in 2011 though.

“It’s an exciting time for me, I’ve got a new challenge ahead and with a strong team like Hillspeed behind me, along with the support of iZone Driver Performance, I hope to be challenging for the championship title.”

Hillspeed team principal Richard Ollerenshaw added: “It’s great to have agreed a deal already with Zaamin, he’ll be a welcome addition to the team and although last season was a tough one for him we know he has good pace and we’re sure he’ll shine in BARC next year.

“Next season will be a critical one for him but if we’re able to start off well with some good test mileage under our belts, I’m sure it’ll be possible for Zaamin to fight for the championship. Our plan is to be at the sharp end from the start of the season and to obviously try and retain our title.”

For his 2011 Formula Renault BARC bid, Zaamin will be backed once again by Dubai-based Active PR.

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.

After the qualifying sesson was over the Motopark drivers occupied the top five positions with British driver Adrian Quaife-Hobbs grabbing the pole position, 3 tenths ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa from Portugal. Best non-Motopark driver in qualifying was Daniel Aho for Koiranen Bros who ended up in seventh of the grid, but no less than 1.681 seconds off the pace of the pole sitter.

21 cars line up for race one and it ended up being a lights to flag victory for Quaife-Hobbs who was 8 seconds ahead of Felix da Costa in second and Kevin Magnussen in third after the 16 laps were completed.

The second race of the weekend had more drama as the top eight from race one started in reversed order on the grid. Race one winner Quaife-Hobbs misjudged the early braking of the slightly slower cars ahead of him and ran into the back of his team mate Kevin Magnussen in the first corner damaging his front wing and dropping to ninth. Depsite a lack of downforce from the damaged wing he fought his way up to fifth before a tyre burst and forced a pitstop for a new tyre and a new nose. At the front it was last year’s championship runner up Antonio Felix da Costa who took the win in front of the two Danes Kevin Magnussen and Marco Sørensen.

Antonio Felix da Costa leads the championship after the Zandvoort round ahead of Kevin Magnussen, Marco Sørensen, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and Toomas Heikkinen.

The next two races are at Hockenheim at the end of April.

Preliminary schedule:

1. Karlskoga – 22-23 May (together with the STCC) + Finnish championship
2. Falkenberg – 10-11 July (together with the STCC)
3. Karlskoga – 14-15 August (together with the STCC)
4. Hämeenlinna, Finland – 5-6 September + Finnish championship
5. Knutstorp – 11-12 September (together with the STCC)

Hopefully things will change though as the plans are being made for a Swedish Formula Renault 2.0 championship for 2009. The plans are pretty far ahead and several drivers are already confirmed for racing. The only driver who has made it official though is Viktor Hallrup, who has a history of both Formula Fords and Radicals. Viktor will race in the Northern European Championship as well as the Swedish. According to Joakim Wiedesheim, the series coordinator, there are several other drivers confirmed for the championship.

The series will work together with the Finnish Formula Renault 2.0 championship, which will have one of its rounds in Sweden in 2009. The calendar has not yet been confirmed although at least three events will be held together with the STCC.

While these must be the toughest times to launch a new series in, Race Incident really hopes this will mark a proper return of single seater racing in Sweden.

“After the Formula Renault season finished, Mücke offered me a test at Lausitz and it went really, really well, and they said they’d be interested in running me next season,” he said.

Alexander Sims ran for Manor Competition in the UK Formula Renault championship this season and finished second behind Adam Christodoulou. He also made an appearance in the Formula BMW race at Macau and set the fastest lap eventhough it was his debut race in the BMW single seater.