Two reigning Ford championship title-holders will be renewing their Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain campaigns with fresh teams next weekend (5/6 June) at the Dutch circuit of Zandvoort, the venue for round seven and eight of the series.
The drivers changing seats are reigning Formula Ford Scholarship Champion Dan Cammish, who has joined the JTR team, and David Ellesley, the 2009 Fiesta ST Champion, who will go behind the wheel of a semi-works Juno.
Leeds-based Cammish, 21, split with the Kevin Mills Racing team after the Knockhill races earlier this month and is looking forward to his association with JTR, whose driver Josef Newgarden was championship runner-up in '09. "I am very happy to have got a deal to return to Formula Ford, especially with such a good team like JTR," said Cammish. "I am looking forward to working with Nick Tandy and his team to challenge for race wins and hopefully the championship. It is just a shame that we couldn't make it over to the Dutch test last week, so we will be starting a little bit on the back foot, but hopefully by Castle Combe we can start pushing for wins. JTR have a lot of data from Zandvoort so hopefully that will balance out the lack of testing."
Ipswich racer Ellesley started his season with a works-run Spirit chassis in the Scholarship class but had to miss the Knockhill rounds. Now the 23-year-old has been handed the chance to race the Juno prepared by former Formula Ford Champion Nathan Freke's Century Motorsport team, because regular pilot Jake Green has not fully recovered from the wrist injury he suffered at Knockhill.
"At the moment it's a one-race deal," says David, "although I believe there is a third car under construction, so there may be the possibility of me being out with them later in the year. I was fortunate enough to share a day's testing with Nathan Freke on Friday at Brands Hatch to get a feel for the car, and was extremely impressed with the car, with Juno and with Century. In fact, I had a fantastic day so am very much looking forward to next weekend."
Another team change concerns Frenchman Philippe Layac, who has switched to a Rendez-Vous Racing-prepared Ray for the Dutch weekend. In all, 22 cars are expected at Zandvoort for the double-header supporting Europe's blue riband F3 event, the Masters.
Scott Malvern leads the championship for Cliff Dempsey Racing by a 23-point margin after six races, and is the only driver in the field to have scored points in every one of them. Four-time race victor Scott Pye (Jamun Racing) is his closest rival, with Josh Hill the only other race winner so far.
The Zandvoort races are the championship's only non-UK rounds. Twenty-five rounds are planned, spread over 10 meetings which include support slots with British Touring Cars, the DTM and British F3.
