COLE STORMS TO PODIUM AT DONINGTON
British racing driver James Cole continues to hold on to his season long lead of the MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain after a character building weekend at the Donington Circuit in Leicestershire. The 20 year old Jamun Racing driver took a strong second place finish in the second race of the weekend, but unpredictable weather conditions and a race ending incident saw Cole’s Championship lead reduced down to 17 points.
On Saturday afternoon the first race of the weekend took place under bright conditions at the midlands track. Cole had qualified third for the race and was looking for victory to increase his hold on the driver’s championship. As the cars completed the warm up lap, the fourth place car of Garry Findlay ran into the back of Cole, damaging a rear wishbone. The damage to both cars was too considerable for either to take part in the race, leaving a frustrated Cole having to watch from the sidelines as the Jamun Racing team worked on the car.
After the disappointment of race one the young Merseysider was gunning for victory in the second race of the weekend. Sunday’s morning race at the Donington Circuit saw Cole line up second on the grid and a strong start consolidated his second place into the first corner. However a stalled car on the grid caused a two lap safety car period whilst it was removed. As the cars were released, Cole made a blistering restart and took the lead from pole sitter Daniel Erickson.
With the field jostling for position, the next lap saw Cole run wide, giving Erickson, pursued by Josef Newgarden, Garry Findlay and Pat McKenna track position and pushing Cole down to sixth. A storming drive back through the field saw Cole up to third as the race drew to a close, before he challenged Erickson for second place, a position he eventually took before the flag fell.
Lining up fifth for the start of the final race of the weekend, the damp weather look set to worsen as the clouds thickened over the Donington circuit, meaning the whole field chose to run on wet weather tyres. Once again Cole made a strong start in the damp conditions and passed fourth placed Josh Hill. However the fast starting Chrissy Palmer moved ahead and demoted Cole back to fifth. Cole then went on to pass Findlay for fourth, before chasing down McKenna for the final podium position. Findlay, Cole and McKenna had a strong battle for the majority of the race, with Cole narrowly missing out and eventually finishing fifth.
Cole commented after the weekend, “We have had an unlucky weekend really. The incident in race one put us out of the race and left us with no points scored which has really damaged my championship lead. My closest challengers have had strong weekends too, which means they have closed the gap right down.
“Race two was good fun though, it’s a very close series this year and I was pleased to eventually take second place. I’m always aiming for the win, but when you need points, you know you need to consolidate and take what is on offer. I’ve lead the championship for the whole season and I’m really hoping to continue that right up until the last race of the season.”
