Jayde Kruger leads home Juan Rosso for a Jamun Racing 1-2 in Round 26Harrison Scott is the victor of the 27th race of the season, and wins the Scholarship Cup championship title
Three races, three different winners. The Formula Ford thrills continued at Silverstone Sunday with Jayde Kruger and Harrison Scott joining Saturday victor Camren Kaminsky in the winner’s circle. Both of today’s races were thrillers decided only in the closing laps, and both had the sizeable Silverstone crown on the edge of their grandstand seats.
There was a double celebration for rookie racer Scott, 17, who in addition to his maiden car-racing win also secured the Scholarship Cup championship title with four races in hand. The Althorne, Essex-based secured the title this morning at Silverstone after a strong run to second in class in the 26th round.
Harrison, who came to the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain as an experienced karter but a near total car-racing rookie, has enjoyed a stellar season in the Falcon Motorsport Mygale. He first climbed the stop step of the Scholarship podium at Donington Park in only his fourth race, and has gone on to claim the honours a total of 10 times so far.
The VCM Motorsport-backed racer wins a free championship registration for Formula Ford 2014 and free race entries for the coming season.
Reflecting on his class championship victory, Harrison said: “Coming into this championship as a rookie I really didn’t know what to expect, nor how good I would be. Some people have gone from karting to single-seaters and found that they haven’t adapted well. I’m happy with how it has gone for me, but I didn’t think the learning curve would be as steep as it has been. The transition from karts, where I learned the basics of racecraft, has been huge. And I still have a lot more to learn.
“Understanding how it all works and how to improve my driving has been key, along with gaining confidence, so if the rear of the car steps out I know I can catch it, and knowing how much speed to carry into a corner. There have been ups and downs: I think my most satisfying races were at Snetterton, where I was on the overall podium in each race and won the Scholarship class in all three, and my most frustrating experience was getting a drive-through penalty at Croft while I was leading Dan Cammish after starting from my first pole. But it’s all part of the learning curve.”
Beyond planning for further class and overall success in the final Formula Ford rounds at Brands Hatch, Harrison’s future racing plans are undecided. “It’s all up in the air at the moment,” he said, “and of course all budget-dependant. We will all sit down after the season and decide what’s best. Of course, winning the Scholarship and the free entries for next season is going to be a consideration.”
Round 26 race reportJayde Kruger and Jamun Racing brought to an end the JTR team’s season-long stranglehold, the South African racer claiming his maiden British Formula Ford victory and leading home his team-mate Juan Rosso to secure a Jamun 1-2. Twenty-five-year-old Kruger took control four laps from the end, preserving his tyres well to outpace JTR man Sam Brabham who, just as he did in yesterday’s race, led the way from the start. Brabham claimed third place and, for the fifth time this season, took the Scholarship class win.
As on Saturday, Brabham’s start from second on the grid was inch-perfect and he overhauled pole man Max Marshall to claim the lead into Copse. Marshall made a much better getaway than he did in round 25 but the JTR man ran wide at Becketts to let Kruger, Scott and Rosso past.
An error out of Becketts cost Kruger second on the second lap as Scott nipped past to begin a fruitless pursuit of the leader. “I was about 3mph down on the straight,” said Harrison, “and that meant catching anyone was out of the question.” Brabham enjoyed the breathing space but it was shortlived: Kruger repassed Scott down the inside at Brooklands on the ninth lap and quickly set about whittling away Sam’s advantage; he reduced it from 1.2s to 0.3s within three laps.
Kruger shadowed Brabham for a further seven laps before making his move for the lead, again down the inside at Brooklands, and nosing ahead. Sam battled back ahead but Jayde finished the manoeuvre at Luffield to secure his maiden win.
“We’ve been struggling with the tyres a bit,” said Jayde, “so I opted to take things easy at the beginning and wait for the others’ tyres to go off, and I think that paid off. I made a stupid mistake early on and Harrison managed to get past me, but after I had made it back past him it was just about reducing Sam’s lead. I gad to pace myself and be patient. I had to make a move somewhere along the line and I got him done into the second-last turn. From then on I kept my head down.”
After leading both rounds 25 and 26, Brabham could be forgiven for feeling frustrated, but not a bit of it: “I’m not frustrated at all. I drove well and the others’ tyres were a lot better than mine; they had so much more grip at the end than I did. I am pleased: I’ve never led a race before this weekend and now I have led two.”
After being pushed back to fifth early on by Falcon’s 16-year-old prodigy Andy Chang, Rosso regained fourth when the Macanese driver erred on the 13th lap, and Juan then snatched third from Scott five laps from the end with a demon outbrake into Becketts. The final lap at Copse saw Brabham fall into the Argentinian’s clutches and Rosso secure his fifth second-place finish of the season.
Brabham came under heavy attack on the final lap also from Scott but managed to hang on in front of Harrison by 0.076s for the final podium slot. Saturday victor Camren Kaminsky was denied a chance to repeat his earlier glory by a faulty starter on his JTR Mygale; he was forced to get going from the back of the grid and did well to rise to fifth by the chequered flag.
Chang recovered from his error to finish sixth ahead of James Abbott’s Radical Mygale, with Luke Reade eighth after a good run for Falcon. Andy Richardson was the final finisher: he pitted early to make adjustments in a bid to improve engine cooling and followed up on his return to the circuit by breaking the day-old lap record.
Connor Mills (Meridian) and Marshall both retired, the latter with a loss of power provisionally attributed to a loose turbo pipe.
Round 27 race reportScott rounded off his Silverstone weekend in the best possible way by claiming his and the Falcon Motorsport team’s maiden outright race victory. He took over in front of the third and final Silverstone race six laps from the chequered flag.
Once again Brabham was the bridesmaid, the JTR driver doing everything correctly at the start to overhaul his team-mate and pole position man Marshall and lead through Copse corner. Brabham quickly built a useful lead over Marshall before Max headed for the pits with a repeat of his earlier turbo pipe problems.
Brabham’s other JTR team-mate, Kaminsky, then took over in second, the American under major pressure from Scott. They ran side by side for half a lap, with Kaminsky resolutely defending his position until he ran wide at Copse at the start of the sixth lap. Jamun twins Kruger and Rosso followed Scott through to demote Kaminsky to fifth.
Once through to second place, Scott needed to make up a 2.5s deficit over Brabham. It took Harrison five laps to narrow the gap to less than a second and a further five laps to get close enough to the JTR man’s gearbox to mount a challenge. This he launched down Brabham’s inside into Brooklands on lap 17; Sam defended brilliantly but Harrison was able to make the move stick through Luffield and Woodcote corners to move ahead. Scott crossed the line 1.5s clear of Brabham.
“I’m over the moon - my first win,” said Harrison. “I’m really, really happy - I wanted this badly. Sam got a gap at the start but I kept on picking away at it. I found the handling of my car a lot better this time, and that allowed me to push and to close down that gap.”
Brabham, who led all three races at Silverstone only to be denied his first win, drove well to hang on to second - his third runner-up spot of the season - under late-race attack from Kruger: the South African was less than two-tenths behind at the line. Rosso held off Kaminsky to secure fourth, with Chang impressing again for Falcon to pass Abbott for sixth early on. Reade’s Falcon Mygale finished well ahead of Mills’s Meridian machine for eighth. Richardson joined Marshall in retirement.
Provisional resultsDunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great BritainRound 26 (of 30) 29 September 2013, Silverstone22 laps / 36.09 miles1 Jayde KRUGER / RSA Jamun Mygale 20m 46.297s / 104.24mph2 Juan ROSSO / ARG Jamun Mygale +0.928s3 Sam BRABHAM / GBR (Henley) JTR Mygale +1.891s4 Harrison SCOTT / GBR (Althorne) +1.967s5 Camren KAMINSKY / USA JTR Mygale +5.924s6 Andy CHANG / CHI Falcon Mygale +9.320s etcScholarship class 1 Brabham; 2 Scott; 3 Chang etcFastest lap Andy RICHARDSON / GBR (Grantham) Richardson Mygale 55.891s / 105.66mph Rec
Round 27 / 22 laps / 36.09 miles1 SCOTT 20m 47.821s / 104.12mph2 BRABHAM +1.547s3 KRUGER +1.738s4 ROSSO +2.745s5 KAMINSKY +3.200s6 CHANG +6.317s etcScholarship class 1 Scott; 2 Brabham; 3 Chang etcFastest lap Max MARSHALL / GBR (North Kilworth) JTR Mygale
Full results
Provisional championship standings1 Dan CAMMISH (GBR/Leeds) 739 points; 2 Scott 563; 3 Rosso 499; 4 Nico MARANZANA (ARG) 448; 5 Brabham 437; 6 James ABBOTT (GBR/Thurlby) 406 etcScholarship class 1 Scott 443; 2 Maranzana 346; 3 Brabham 330; 4 Richardson 207; 5 Connor MILLS (GBR/Upminster) 54; 6 Luke READE (GBR/Keston) 62 etc
Final rounds 12/13 October Brands Hatch
