Strong Scottish Formula Ford showing for Louise Richardson‏

Louise Richardson enjoyed a strong weekend as the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain headed to Scotland for the latest three rounds of the season.The Aston University student made the trip north buoyed by a seasons-best seventh place finish in the previous event at Snetterton, and a solid showing in Friday testing set her up well for the weekend at the wheel of her Richardson Racing-run Mygale.A strong performance in qualifying saw Louise secure eighth on the grid, with a mistake towards the end of the session that saw her slide off into the gravel being the only thing that prevented her from breaking into the top six for the first time.

Despite that, her best time was barely seven tenths of a second away from the front row, providing further indication of her continued progress in her maiden single-seater season.A heavy shower moments before the cars were due to be released onto the circuit for the opening race saw the team forced to make a late call to switch to wet tyres, and provided Louise with a fresh challenge as she embarked on her first wet race in the series.

A solid performance on track saw Louise finish eighth overall and third in the Scholarship Class, chasing down rival James Abbott as the race wore on and just falling short of being able to match her best result of the campaign.Race two further showed Louise’s continued progress in the single-seater series as she was able to run as high as sixth before a spin at turn one that cost her valuable time. Despite that, she was able to clinch seventh overall and took a best-yet second amongst the Scholarship class runners.With a revised grid for race three seeing Louise starting from fourth, she found herself firmly in the mix towards the front when the lights went out, marking her first opportunity to battle on track at the sharp end of the pack.Racing hard throughout, she again finished seventh overall having seen off the challenge of Abbott and was rewarded with a third scholarship class podium.The next stop for Louise will be a trip to Rockingham in Northamptonshire in two weeks time.“I’m really happy with the weekend,” she said. “We’ve made good progress and I’ve been a lot closer to the pace which is pleasing. Now, I just need to find the consistency in terms of my lap times to push forwards.“The third race in particular was great as that was the time first I’ve been right in the mix and have been under real pressure throughout, so I feel that I’ve been able to learn a lot more and it has improved me as a driver. I always had to be on my guard and to beat Abbott at the end was great.“Knockhill is a circuit where you need to be confident in your car, and I had the confidence to really go for it. While I may have made a mistake in qualifying, it was because I felt I could really push, and I just overstepped the mark a little bit.“That is something that happens, but I think the way the team worked this weekend and the way I drove is something we can be really happy with. With the extra confidence I've gained this weekend and the fact that I'm getting more experience every time I go on track, I'm confident I can move forwards up the grid in the races still to come.”


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