| 10 RACES TO GO AND FORMULA FORD BATTLE HOTS UP (11-8-09) | ||
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Seven different race winners from four different countries, as well as some of the closest racing the series has seen in years - those are the statistics behind the raw excitement being provided this season by the MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain. Silverstone is the venue next weekend (15/16 Aug) for the next stimulating instalment of the championship and, with just 17 points separating the leading title contenders, James Cole and Josef Newgarden, all eyes - including those of reigning Formula Ford Champion Wayne Boyd - will be on the Northamptonshire circuit's trio of races. Boyd, now an established star of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series, has been keeping an eye on Formula Ford all season. The Ulsterman reckons that it is his old team, Jamun Racing, which will prevail. "Both James and Josef are very good drivers - I'd like to see them in Formula 3 next season," said Wayne. "But I reckon that James will have the legs on him. He learned a lot from the team last season, and Jamun is still the team to be with. The package is all there." Wayne says that the racecraft he learned in Formula Ford during his championship-winning season was the key to his maiden British F3 victory, achieved in the damp at Donington Park last month. "The racecraft that you are taught is brilliant; the car control that I learned in Formula Ford is what has given me the confidence to control an F3 car when conditions are difficult and there's low grip and downforce." |
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Although 17 points is Cole's theoretical advantage over his rapidly accelerating American rival Newgarden, the reality is that the JTR driver is a lot closer to him than that: at the end of the year drivers have to discard their two worst scores, and if these 'drop scores' are taken into account the gap between championship first and second is only three points. To add to the excitement, just behind these two Mygale drivers, and ready to pounce, are Fluid Van Diemen pilot Garry Findlay and Daniel Cammish in the Kevin Mills Racing Spectrum. Newgarden has won five times this season and Cole (who celebrates his 21st birthday at Silverstone) on four occasions. Race victories have also gone the way of Chrissy Palmer (twice), Fluid's Ben Barker, Findlay, Spain's Jordi Cunill (GV Racing) and Australian KMR Spectrum driver Daniel Erickson. Any one of the above stands a very real chance of adding further wins to their tally next weekend, and there are several waiting in the wings to notch up a maiden victory. Such as Cammish, the runaway Scholarship Class leader with 14 class victories from 15 starts; Cole's Jamun team-mates Josh Hill and Patrick McKenna; Alex Jones, the third man in the ever-improving KMR squad; or Dutch drivers Liroy Stuart (JTR) and Rogier de Wit (Getem). Brazilian youngster Fabio Gamberini, the Fluid Van Diemen running mate of Barker and Findlay, is the only driver other than Cammish to have claimed a Scholarship race win, and his eighth place overall last month at Donington was a personal best. |
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