Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography
Josh Webster has confirmed that he will graduate into the Certina Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship for the 2012 season after agreeing a deal to remain with the Mark Burdett Motorsport team, for whom he drove for in the six event ‘Finals Series’ back in November.
The Team UK driver steered one of the Skegness based teams’ current Formula Renault cars to third overall in the six round ‘finals series’, which backed up his Protyre Formula Renault BARC performance as he finished as the series Vice Champion, with three victories and six other podiums from the twelve races held.
His determination and focus over the previous twelve months has seen him develop a strong foothold in single seater racing, and with the announcement that he is to graduate into the Certina Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship, he said: “We’ve been working so hard to try and put together a deal to race in Formula Renault UK this year so I’m happy we’ve been able to agree something with Mark Burdett. The team did a great job for me in the Finals Series last year and together we showed we’ve got what it takes to run at the front in Formula Renault UK.
“I have to say a big thank you to all of my sponsors, especially James Palmer of Nine Telecom, Graham McMullen and David Marsden of Admiral Managed Networks and Pas Ruggiero of Integra ICT, for continuing to support me and helping us to finalise a great drive for 2012. This is going to be such an important year for my career, particularly as I’ll be representing Team UK and the MSA, so I’ll be giving it everything.”
Speaking on behalf of the team, Mark Burdett said: “We were very impressed with Josh in the Finals Series last year, he did a very good job and the top priority for us this season was to try and sort out a deal with him. We’re delighted he’s with us, we’ve all got a great working relationship with Josh and the aim is to try and fight for the championship – that’s why we’re here!”
The Certina Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship is renowned as one of the most important single seater categories in the world and has seen Formula One World Champions Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton race in the series during their early racing days, while fellow racers Paul Di Resta and Heikki Kovalainen also passed through the Championship en route to Formula One.
2012 sees the Formula Renault UK Championship switch to a three race weekend for the first time, moving it in line with the format that the Cooper Tires British Formula Three International Series uses.
The season gets underway at Brands Hatch, Kent over the 31 March/1 April, and the series visits Donington Park, Thruxton, Oulton Park, Snetterton, Rockingham and Brands Hatch GP as part of the British Touring Car Package. The visit to Brands Hatch GP marks the conclusion of the season, over the 20/21 October.
