Maiden single seat win for racer Robert (From Echo)

Maiden single seat win for racer Robert

4:10pm Wednesday 8th September 2010 in Sport By Paul Alton

ROBERT Foster-Jones had high hopes of success at Knockhill at the weekend.

But his performance surprised not only himself but his fellow Formula Renault racers too.

The Thorpe Bay driver missed pole position by one tenth of a second in the first qualifying session, but secured pole in second qualifying.

It made Foster-Jones the first rookie driver to take a pole this season and added his name to the list of drivers to manager the feat in the past, such as Formula One world champions Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton.

Foster-Jones finished second in the first race at the Scottish circuit to become the first rookie to get on the podium this season.

But he eclipsed that by winning the second race in a pole to chequered flag performance that saw him win the race and join Hamilton Raikkonen and Heikki Kovalainen in achieving the feat.

“I am absolutely over the moon! To win in my first season is a dream come true,” said Foster-Jones after his first win in single seater cars since graduating from karts.

“My team, CRS Racing, have been fantastic all year, not only providing me with a great car but helping me learn how to get the best of it.

“This result is great testament to everyone’s hard work and I can’t tell you how happy I am to reward them with a win.”

The former Shoeburyness High School pupil travelled to Knockhill, which is near Dunfermline, in good spirits following a successful test session there.

With only one other team in the championship having tested at Knockhill, Foster-Jones was hoping the information gathered from testing would enable him to get a good set up for the weekend’s meeting.

And that proved to be the case as he finished second to race one pole sitter Tom Blomqvist in the first qualifying session and then pipping him to pole in the second session.

Foster-Jones only started in Formula Renault this season and it is usually racers in their second term who are challenging for the podium places.

But the 19-year-old driver put the experience gained this season to good use to trade fastest lap times with Blomqvist in front of a full house in the first race.

The pack was closed up following an accident which saw the safety car deployed and Blomqvist opened up a one second gap on Foster-Jones which he maintained to the end of the 27-lap race.

In the second race, Foster-Jones held off the challenge of championship leader Tamara Pa’l Kiss on the challenging circuit before opening up a two-second gap.

Another accident saw the safety car brought out again but once the race got under way again, Fsoter-Jones defended his lead well to beat Pa’l Kiss by a second.

Now he is hoping to build on his success at the final two rounds of the season at Silverstone and Brands Hatch.

“I have made huge progress this weekend. I claimed my first pole position and race win all in the space of two days,” Foster-Jones added.

“I am eager to carry this momentum forward into the last two rounds of the championship and try to finish my season with a couple more trophies.”

>Foster-Jones raced in the pro-am karting event at Daytona karting in Milton Keynes last night to raise funds for injured racing driver Chris van der Drift.

The 24-year-old New Zealander suffered broken bones in a massive crash at Brands Hatch last month and the money raised will be used to help pay for his rehabilitation.