The single-seater racer then finished second in round nine at Norfolk's Snetterton circuit to extend his lead in the drivers' standings by two points to seven, with three races left.

After testing at the circuit on Friday, Fraser and his privateer team were forced to change the gearbox overnight in preparation for Saturday morning's qualifying session. The hours of work were rewarded as Fraser (39) qualified second in Class for the day's two races behind title rival Steven Durrant, who had won the previous four races.

In round eight, Fraser maintained second place on the opening tour of the 1.95-mile circuit before taking the lead after an error from Durrant saw him lose five seconds. As in the majority of races so far in 2008, the pair ran nose to tail during the race with Durrant taking the lead at the start of lap six.

Fraser's frustration was short-lived, however, when Durrant was forced to pit with a snapped throttle cable. His nearest challenger on the road now 15 seconds behind, Fraser, who is backed by SmartCats Consulting, Buck Consultants, Smart Architects and Nessie's Beds, was able to cruise home and take a crucial victory.

Rain in between races saw the 29-strong field take to the grid for round nine on wet weather tyres, with spray a major problem for all involved. The race was stopped after three laps following a crash by one of the FR2000 Class cars, with the restart scheduled for 10 laps.

On this occasion, Fraser was unable to match Durrant's pace but collected 12 points for second place to leave Snetterton with an extended championship lead.

Commenting on the weekend, Fraser, who works as a pensions actuary, said: "First of all I have to thank my team of mechanics who put in so many hours of work after testing, having already faced a long journey to the track. To win the first race is great but it's not the way you want to do it, especially since I've had great races with Steven all year.

"In round nine it was mainly a case of making sure I didn't make any silly mistakes, which is easy to do in those conditions. We've had snow at Brands Hatch earlier in the year and now heavy rain here at Snetterton so it's definitely been a challenging season! Hopefully I can do well at Thruxton and Silverstone and end the year on a high."

Round ten of the Formula Renault BARC Championship takes place at Thruxton in Hampshire, the UK's fastest circuit, on Sunday, September 7.