Heavy and persistent rain at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit this afternoon rendered testing ahead of the weekend’s opening two rounds of the Formula Renault UK Championship relatively pointless, although Will Bratt was still happy with his day’s work.

After recording the seventh quickest time during a wet session one with a best lap of 48.478 seconds (89.01mph), the Adderbury 18-year-old completed a total of just eight laps during the second session but, importantly, was second fastest when the Apotex Scorpio Motorsport team decided to call an early end to the day.

With conditions worsening, the risk of unnecessarily damaging his car was too great so the team rightly chose to curtail its involvement in the test early. At this point, less than halfway into the session, Will was second fastest with a time of 50.790 seconds (84.91mph) and hopes are high of a strong run in qualifying at the Kent venue tomorrow.

“We only did three fast laps during the second session before we decided to call it a day”, explained Will, “The rain was bad and there was just too much risk for a big accident in the conditions so the wise decision was to come into the pits and keep the car in top condition for qualifying tomorrow.

“We were second fastest when we decided to stop and I’m happy with the way the car feels in the wet and the dry so there was nothing else to achieve by staying out. There’s little point in trying to be quickest on a day like today, our aim is to try and do that job tomorrow when it really counts.”

With testing now concluded, the real business of race action is just two days away with rounds one and two of the 2007 Formula Renault UK Championship taking place at 12.10 and 17.30 respectively on Sunday, 1st April. Both races will be broadcast live on cable and digital satellite subscription channel Setanta Sports 2.

Before then, qualifying for the first race of the season is timetabled to start at 13.05 tomorrow, Saturday, 31st March, with round two qualifying scheduled to begin at 16.05.

“I’m really looking forward to qualifying”, added the University of Oxford scholar, “We’re confident we have a good set-up and the weather is supposed to be much better tomorrow so hopefully it’ll remain dry. Whatever the weather though, I’m sure we’ll do a good job and get the new season off to a great start.”