Scott Malvern capped a superbly successful season with victory  in the BRSCC’s Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. The 22-year-old from Essex qualified on pole and won his heat, quarter final and semi-final races before beating Dutch driver Steijn Schothorst to the chequered flag by 0.4s in the Duratec final.

It was a brilliant swansong performance by Malvern for the Jamun Racing team, with whom he had already won the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Champion of Great Britain in dominant fashion.

“It couldn’t have gone any better for me,” said Scott. “This was the one I wanted to win all year. The plan was to try to run away and hide and I nearly achieved that. I struggled a bit for pace early on in the final but was just able to keep Steijn behind. It’s a great end to my Formula Ford season.”

But Malvern’s joy was dampened by the news from the USA of the death in an IndyCar crash of 33-year-old Dan Wheldon. Like Malvern, Wheldon’s junior career was nurtured in Formula Ford; Wheldon was Formula Ford Festival runner-up in 1998, finishing behind the driver who would go on to become World Champion in 2009, Jenson Button.

“I went to bed last night over the moon,” said Scott, “and woke up to the news about Dan. It’s very hard to take and a double blow coming so soon after the death of Martin Hines. They will both be missed by British motorsport.”

“Everyone in the Formula Ford community is shocked and saddened,” said Sam Roach of Formula Ford promoter RacingLine. “Dan Wheldon was a driver of whom everyone connected with Formula Ford was proud. Our thoughts are with his young family and his many friends in the sport.”