INQUIRER Sports

Marlon Stockinger came through with a pair of strong finishes to make his presence felt for the Hitech Junior Team in the opening round of the Michelin Formula Renault British Championship at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit recently.

The 18-year-old Manila-born Filipino-Swiss wound up 20th in the 24-lap first race before improving to 17th in Race 2 of the competition that drew scores of international entries.

Stockinger, now enrolled at CATS Cambridge in Britain, narrowly missed out on a top-three finish after making a minor mistake at the Graham Hill Bend in the second race, according to Hitech Junior Team principal David Hayle.

?Marlon made a massive improvement from testing to qualifying,? said Hayle.

?He drove well in both races and I?m sure that with more track experience under his belt, he will gain in confidence as the season progresses.?

Stockinger?s teammate Jordan Oakes scored a podium finish by placing third in Race 1 won by Oliver Webb and bagging the ELF-Atol Driver of the Day Award.

Stockinger, the 2007 Philippine Rotax Max champ and 2006 Asian Karting winner, will next race on May 16 and 17 at Donnington, Britain. Steve Silva, Contributor