UK, Apr 29: Darren Manning is confident he can give the British fans something to cheer when the Cart championship moves to Brands Hatch this weekend. The US-based Champ Car World Series has decamped to Europe for races at Brands Hatch on Monday and Germany's EuroSpeedway Lausitz on 11 May.


Manning earned a drive with the Walker Racing team after finishing an impressive ninth on his Cart debut at Rockingham last year. And the 28-year-old Yorkshireman is confident he can do well on the familiar Brands Hatch track after two top-eight finishes in the opening three races of his rookie season.

"Brands is the only circuit in the championship that I will have raced on before I get there," Manning told this website.
"With the other circuits I'm going in blind and having to learn them in practice and qualifying, so hopefully this will give me a little bit of a headstart.

"My first racing experience was in go-karts at Brands when I was 17 and I've done a few million laps there!

"Some of the other Cart drivers have raced there in the past but most will be in the same boat I'm in at other circuits, so I'm not going to tell them anything."

Manning, a former Williams and BAR Formula One test driver who has raced in F3 and F3000, is the only Briton competing in Cart.
He is 10th overall - and second in the rookie standings - with 11 points from his first three races.

"I'm happy with my results so far but they could have been better," said Manning.


Canada's Paul Tracy is the man to beat this season "Lolas have won the championship for the past couple of years and it's the general opinion that the Reynard is not as competitive.

"I've generally been the top Reynard, which has been my first goal.


Bureau Report