PERFECT WEEKEND FOR JARVIS EXTENDS IMPRESSIVE SERIES LEAD

The 21-year-old Cambridgeshire ace arrived at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit on Thursday for official testing and after leading the way during the four-hour practice session, he duly carried his sparkling form through to Saturday’s brace of 20-minute qualifying sessions, taking NGK Laser Platinum Pole Position for both the fifth and sixth rounds of the year.
 
Qualifying at the 1.22 mile Kent venue is all important with overtaking ultra-difficult, but Oliver’s pace was such he led both of Sunday’s races untroubled to scorch to a pair of sensational victories. Added to his round four win at Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire five weeks ago, he now has a hat-trick of 2005 successes – and is hungry for many more.
 
Speaking on his faultless weekend, which has seen him open up a highly impressive 37-point lead in the championship, a delighted Oliver said: “We worked very hard during the pre-season to make sure we’d be on the pace and now everything is clicking into place for us, which is fantastic.
 
“It hasn’t been totally easy this weekend, I wouldn’t say that, but I’m very confident around Brands Hatch and I knew we’d have good pace here. I almost drove the races like a test day, just concentrating on putting in good laps and not worrying who was behind me. Things are certainly going well and we’re confident of more at Oulton Park.”
 
The consistency shown by the 1999 British Formula JICA Karting Champion, who is sponsored by Newmarket Plant Hire and Robin Goldson, has put him in a commanding position with just six of the 20 rounds completed. Plus, with Cheshire’s Oulton Park Island Circuit a favourite of Oliver’s, he’s keen to add more wins to his tally when the seventh and eighth rounds of the season take place in a fortnight’s time.
 
“I think Oulton Park is a superb track and we did well there in pre-season testing but, unfortunately, I was very ill on the second day so we weren’t completely sure of our true pace there”, added Oliver.
 
“We’ve made some steps forward with the car since then though, and hopefully I’m driving a bit better now so we’ll see what happens – but I am confident. The key is to keep pushing on and trying to improve all the time. You never stop learning and if the rest of the season goes the way it has so far, we’ll be in very good shape.”
 
Oliver began the season as one of the likely front-runners following an impressive run in the 2004 Formula Renault UK Winter Championship – where he achieved his maiden category victory - but he’s certainly surprised with his superb consistency since the opening round of 2005 at Donington Park in Leicestershire.

After a run of three consecutive second place finishes, Oliver took opened his win account with victory during the second of the Thruxton double-header races and having been the class of the field at Brands Hatch this weekend, it’d be foolish to bet against him extending his championship lead even further in a fortnight.
 
Provisional Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin Points (after rounds 5&6):
1st Oliver Jarvis, 180pts; 2nd Sebastian Hohenthal, 143pts; 3rd James Jakes, 127pts;
4th Sean McIntosh, 124pts; 5th Patrick Hogan, 112pts; 6th Alex Storckenfeldt, 96pts