COLE CELEBRATES VICTORY AT SILVERSTONE
James Cole celebrated a fantastic victory in the MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain, taking victory in the finale of the three races held at Silverstone circuit this weekend. The Merseysider, who also celebrated his 21st birthday on Sunday, continues to lead the series over Josef Newgarden, by an increased margin of 58 points. After finishing 17 races within the top six already this season, Cole is aiming to continue his dominance at the final three rounds of the season and take the Drivers’ Championship.
A tough qualifying session for Cole at the Northamptonshire circuit saw him struggle with his car as it suffered front brake failure for the Saturday session. With only the rear brakes working Cole managed to salvage a 13th place grid slot for the opening race and an eighth place for race two.
The first race of the weekend on Saturday afternoon was predictably full of action. Starting from his uncharacteristic 13th place on the grid, Cole made good progress on the opening lap to move up to fifth. An incident involving several of Cole’s championship rivals put nearest opponent Newgarden out of the race and the safety car on track for a lengthy period. With only seven minutes of track time remaining the race was restarted. Cole had little time left to improve his position, but hel used the opportunity to take as many points as possible, making a superb pass on Alex Jones to move up to fourth before the chequered flag.
Race two on Sunday morning was a tough outing for Cole. Starting from eighth on the grid, Cole was battling with oversteer in his car throughout the race. After making up two places at the start of the race and one further place on lap 11 to take fifth, Cole was unable to make further progress and crossed the line in this position, taking further valuable championship points.
After making changes to the car for the final race, Cole showed his supremacy as he moved from fifth on the grid to take victory. After only two laps Cole was up to second and fighting team mate Patrick McKenna for the lead. On lap four Cole made a bold move down the outside at Abbey to take control of the race and the end of the 13 lap race, Cole was ahead by over three seconds.
Cole said after the races, “The weekend turned out well in the end. We were really pleased to end the day with a victory and take the points tally up even higher. We had real problems with the car at the beginning of the weekend. The brake failure in qualifying was then followed by a really badly oversteering car in the first two races. We changed one small thing on the car and it just totally transformed it for the final race. I really felt confident that I had the car underneath me to perform and I went out there to win. It was a great 21st birthday present!
“I’m looking forward to the next race at Brands Hatch now, I know our lead is healthy, but it only takes one poor weekend for me and a strong one for Newgarden and it could be a close battle at the final race. Brands is a bit of a test outing for the Formula Ford Festival at the end of the year too, so I’m hoping to go well there.”
The next round of the British Formula Ford Championship takes place at the Brands Hatch Circuit in Kent on the 5/6th September . The MSA Formula Ford of Great Britain will support the DTM championship, racing on Brands Hatch’s famous Indy circuit.
