Williamson to build on openerposted in MSPOR05 | 05 | 2012

HIGHLANDER LEWIS WILLIAMSON starts tomorrow's second round of the Formula Renault 3.5 at Aragon in Spain boosted by his performance in today's opening race.

The 22-year-old from Golspie, making his debut in the F1 feeder series and backed by the Highland Arena consortium, battled through from 22nd on the grid to finish 15th.

"I'm glad to get my first race in the championship under my belt," Williamson, a member of the Red Bull Young Driver Development Programme, said today.

"This weekend was always going to be a big learning experience for both me, and the team, but we're content with what we achieved today."

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Williamson, driving for the newly-formed Arden Caterham team, avoided a number of first-lap incidents which halted his team-mate, American Alexander Rossi.

"Yeh, the first lap was a bit chaotic, with cars stalling on the start line, and a number of bumps at the first corner," Williamson continued. "Thankfully though we got to the end.

"We've established a solid platform from which to develop the car for Sunday's qualifying ahead of the second race, and the guys are working flat-out at the moment.

"Hopefully we can qualify a little further up the grid — I was just 1.1secs off pole for the first race, and started 22nd — so it's crucial we get qualifying right on Sunday."

The opening race was won by England's Nick Yelloly, just 1.675secs ahead of Frenchman Jules Bianchi.

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Jim McGill