Oxshott's Will Stevens secured his third podium finish of the 2010 Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship at Rockingham in Northamptonshire on Sunday, April 25, to hold on to a top three placing in the driver standings for Manor Competition.

Taking a fifth place finish in round three and racing to a strong third position in round four, the 18-year-old heads into this coming weekend’s races at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit just nine points shy of the championship lead.

Team-mate Lewis Williamson, who shadowed Stevens throughout both encounters to take sixth and fourth place results, is fourth in the standings following the Rockingham weekend and combining both drivers’ scores Manor has retained its position at the head of the entrant’s championship.

Thomas Hylkema delivered a best finish of 10th during the first of the weekend’s races in slippery conditions on Sunday morning while Formula Renault UK rookie Josh Mulholland enjoyed his best outing of the season so far with two very competitive drives and a best of 12th in round four.

Reflecting on the weekend, team owner Tony Shaw said: “This weekend wasn’t as strong for us as Thruxton but to come away with the lead in the team’s championship and with all four drivers delivering strong performances is a good effort all round.

"It’s great to have taken another podium and particularly pleasing to see Will, Lewis, Thomas and Josh all racing strongly.

“Everyone worked very hard as usual but we didn’t quite get the performance out of the cars during qualifying which made the races harder work.

"In the races our pace was better, as proven by Lewis setting the fastest lap during round four, so now we’re aiming to be back on top at Brands Hatch this coming weekend.”

Qualifying on Saturday, 24th April, was as competitive as ever but Manor was disappointed to come away from the round three session with Stevens seventh fastest, Williamson a fraction behind in eighth, Hylkema 12th and Mulholland 18th.

The round four run was an improvement with Williamson leading the way with the fifth best time, Stevens sixth quickest, Mulholland 15th and Hylkema 16th.

Damp conditions greeted drivers for the first race of the weekend on Sunday morning and at the start, Stevens and Williamson ran very closely together through Gracelands as the evenly matched duo jostled for position.

Running in sixth and seventh places respectively for almost the entire duration, the team-mates each gained a position at the expense of Nick Yelloly on lap 15 when he ran off the track at Tarzan Hairpin while holding fourth place.

With nothing between them through the whole race, Scottish star Williamson finished just 0.6 seconds behind Oxshott-based Stevens at the chequered flag.

Dutchman Hylkema delivered his best result of the season so far in 10th position, just eight 10ths of a second behind former team-mate Robert Foster-Jones at the finish, while Mulholland raced very strongly to 13th place – a gain of five positions on his ninth row starting spot.

The track was fully dry in time for round four and at the start and as the lights went out Stevens made a good getaway to rise from sixth to fourth, passing Williamson in the process who slotted in behind the sister Manor car in fifth place.

On lap two at Tarzan, Stevens made his move into third position past Marlon Stockinger with a great pass and Williamson set his sights on following suit although Stockinger was forced to retire on lap six which gave the Manor racer a clear path through.

Getting back on terms with Stevens as the race progressed, the pair were split by no more than 0.4 seconds at the finish on lap 16 in third and fourth place respectively. Williamson also earned two bonus points for setting the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1m16.417 seconds (91.39mph).

Hylkema and Mulholland had a similarly tight battle on the fringe of the top 10 with the Northern Irishman certainly giving an extremely good account of himself with his most competitive drive of the season.

Lapping with almost identical times, the duo diced hard and fair throughout the race with Hylkema seizing the advantage on lap five as Mulholland tussled with Victor Correa.

In the end, they finished in 11th and 12th respectively with 20-year-old Mulholland posting a quickest lap just four 10ths of a second shy of Williamson’s best, Hylkema just a further 10th of a second slower.

There is now less than a week to wait until the fifth and sixth rounds of the 2010 Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship which take place on 1st/2nd May at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit.