British Formula Ford 2009!!

[gomick]

Chrissy Palmer won race 1 & Josef Newgarden won race 2... Daniel Erickson has finished 5th & 2nd - race 3 to come...

[gomick]

Patrick McKenna has come from nowhere & taken the overall round win from James Cole who opens up a handy points lead over Josef Newgarden who had a bad round...

Points after 6 of 9 rounds...

James Cole - 440
Josef Newgarden - 382
Gary Findlay - 379
Daniel Cammish - 354
Chrissy Palmer - 352
Daniel Erickson - 294
Patrick McKenna - 230

[brakedisc]

Looks like this years champion will be the person who makes the least mistakes.

[gomick]

Thats what makes FFord racing so good - young fast talent who race hard all the way

[Elio]

Very pleased to see so many Duratecs out at Brands this morning. Wish I could have stayed for the afternoon as well, but could only do til lunch.

I counted 18 I think (4 Jamun, 3 JTR, 3 Fluid, 2 Kevin Mills, 1 Ray, then independent entries for Vernon, Harper, Buri [2 cars - the comtec and a black Myglae], De Zille, and Melroy Heemskerk in a Geva Mygale). Jaffer on the garage list but not sure I saw him out.

Did anyone see the accident which Jake Green had at the top of Paddock just before lunch in the 3rd of the JTR cars? I only saw the aftermath and was quite disturbed to see several sections of the motorcycle air fencing having been majorly disturbed. I have never known this to be left at Paddock (or any other corner come to think of it) during a car event. Jake Green was able to walk to the medical car but from a distance he looked quite shaken. I would be interested to know exactly what happened as I did not see it happen. The car seemingly had only minor damage, and I wondered whether the air fencing had played a part at all. I was not there pm to see whether it was cleared away in the lunch interval.

*** Googles Jake Green ***

More here which explains the reasons for it........

http://www.jakegreenracing.com/news.html

As I walked back to the car I thought that the tyre marks on the track were in a very strange position.

[Morris Dancer]

Does anyone know if live timing is available online for this weekend's BFFC rounds at the Brands Hatch DTM meeting?

The schedule's a bit different this time: no Friday practice ("testing" for UK forum members!), qualifying on Friday, Round 19 on Saturday and Rounds 20 & 21 on Sunday.

[slevin]

Any news yet?

[krt917]

Newgarden led from lights to flag, chased by Cole and De Wit, who shot from fifth to third on the first lap.

The top three ran away from the rest, but didn't look like changing positions (rare in FFord this year!) until the last few laps. Cole got close to Newgarden, but ran wide at Druids and De Wit squeezed by, forcing Cole onto the grass. De Wit pressed Newgarden, but the American held on to take his seventh win of the year, with Cole third.

Erickson overcame Palmer to be fourth, well behind the lead trio.

Findlay's title hopes took a knock when he went off at Druids on the first lap, trying to pass De Wit and Erickson.

Good to see the Juno out with Felix Fisher, even if it did fail to finish.

Good drive from Dan De Zille to hold off Cammish in the Scholarship Class.

[Morris Dancer]

The race from Daniel Erickson's perspective is on his website www.demotorsport.com.au.

Does anyone know where to find the official results? I can't find them anywhere!

[LilMatt]

Results - Being part of the DTM organised (having been there I use the word carefully) meeting the usual 'facilities' aren't available. You start to take this WackyWonderWeb for granted and feel let down when organisers don't use the facilities which are available to them. They are doing a 'live' timing feed for the DTM cars but it doesn't seem to extend to anyone else. Rumoured to have been some 'rumblings' about the timing in qualifying.

[krt917]

There were indeed rumblings in qualifying - Cole went up and down the order - but it was sorted out before the race.

I can't find the results online, but I'm in the press room so here are the results of race 1:

1. Josef Newgarden
2. Rogier De Wit (+0.218s)
3. James Cole (+1.573 from winner)
4. Daniel Erickson (+7.017)
5. Chrissy Palmer (+8.238)
6. Liroy Stuart (11.566)
7. Patrick McKenna (+18.085)
8. Alex Jones (+18.156)
9. Ben Barker (+18.161)
10. Jordi Cunill (+18.929)
11. Dan De Zille
12. Daniel Cammish
13. Antti Buri
14. Zaamin Jaffer
15. Jake Green
16. Fabio Gamberini
17. Mark Harper
18. Jason Down
19. Tristan Mingay
20. Kieran Vernon
21 Greg Roffe

RTD
Josh Benson
Felix Fisher
Josh Hill
Garry Findlay

FL Cole 47.896s

[slevin]

What about race 2&3?

[krt917]

Right, brief run down:

Race two: Cole and Newgarden in great duel for the lead for the entire race. Cole led from pole, but Newgarden chased him and pulled off a great move on the exit of Surtees to dive down the inside as they entered Clearways. Cole touched the JTR Mygale's rear-end, which did something odd to Newgarden's Mygale and he had to defend for the rest of the race, which he did. Great to see such a clean race between the top two - they ran side-by-side several times and it was incredibly close.

Findlay was third. He showed good pace, but by the time he had got by De Wit, Erickson and Palmer, the top two were long gone.

Top 6
1. Newgarden
2. Cole (+0.095s)
3. Findlay (+4.374)
4. de Wit (+5.762)
5. Erickson (+7.413)
6. Palmer (+7.628)
FL - Josh Hill, giving him pole for race three. Had been in good fight for 7th with Stuart, McKenna and Barker. Unfortunately, he clipped McKenna at Druids, who then hit Stuart, putting all three out, and leaving Barker on his own.

Race 3
Newgarden's car still not right after earlier shunt (bizarre timetable meant the two races were only a couple of hours apart), so he didn't really figure and finished fifth after a clash with Erickson at Graham Hill.
Hill Jr (should that be Hill Jr Jr?!) held the lead from pole, chased by Cole and Findlay. he made a mistake at Paddock, letting Cole and Findlay through, and was then pushed out the way by de Wit at Druids.

Findlay kept the pressure on Cole, and found a way by at one stage, but couldn't make it stick and Cole took his sixth win of the year. Hill put in his best race of the year to get back past de Wit to take third, and fastest lap.

Top 6:
1. Cole
2. Findlay (+0.131s)
3. Hill (+0.294s - behind Cole!)
4. de Wit (+0.773s)
5. Newgarden (+1.002s)
6. Stuart (+1.106s)
FL - Hill

Top 4 in champ:
1. Cole, 524
2. Newgarden, 463
3. Findlay, 431
4. Palmer, 406.

[Triple J Motorsport]

sounds like Hill will be right on the pace for the festival

[gomick]

James Cole is proving to be very consistent which is making it hard for Josef Newgarden to close in on the points lead - 2 rounds left (6 races), hope Daniel Erickson can get a win or 3

[Redracer77]

Originally Posted by gomick

James Cole is proving to be very consistent which is making it hard for Josef Newgarden to close in on the points lead - 2 rounds left (6 races), hope Daniel Erickson can get a win or 3

I think there is only 4 races left. 2 at both Brands and Combe

[gomick]

Cool, was thinking 3 races per meet...

[Morris Dancer]

Originally Posted by gomick

James Cole is proving to be very consistent which is making it hard for Josef Newgarden to close in on the points lead - 2 rounds left (6 races), hope Daniel Erickson can get a win or 3

Daniel's going great considering he's never raced on any of these circuits before. There's no substitute for wheel-to-wheel experience.

That might explain why he sometimes hasn't been able to match his excellent qualifying performances in the races.

Unless I'm mistaken, the only 'first time racing in the UK' driver ahead of him in the pointscore is his KVR team-mate Daniel Cammish.

DE has been pegging him back in the last few rounds so it could be a real tussle for 5th place in the championship!

[Mach3]

I'm getting in late on the act here, so apologies.

that said, anyone else think FF has been one of the most exciting series this year by some distance? There are a couple of young stars I'm sure, most notably Newgarden, but quite aside from that the action has been topdraw.

[Morris Dancer]

Would any long-time British FF followers like to rank the teams, notwithstanding their drivers' abilities?

[Triple J Motorsport]

Originally Posted by Morris Dancer

Would any long-time British FF followers like to rank the teams, notwithstanding their drivers' abilities?

Depends on how far you want to go back??

Works Van Diemen team probably the best ever in the current era obviously Jamun

[Morris Dancer]

Sorry, I should have said "2009 teams", and specified things like set-up skills and organisational capabilities.

Also, how do the cars and engine builders rate?

Obviously this is question for insiders or those with extensive knowledge of this category.

[Triple J Motorsport]

I don't think there is much between the top teams or engine builders.

Chassis wise Mygale, Van Diemen, Ray & Spectrum are all capable of winning in the hands.

It's about getting the right deal for you....

[Morris Dancer]

Originally Posted by Triple J Motorsport

I don't think there is much between the top teams or engine builders.

Chassis wise Mygale, Van Diemen, Ray & Spectrum are all capable of winning in the hands.

It's about getting the right deal for you....

Can you explain "the right deal"?

[Morris Dancer]

What a relief that TSL's online 'live timing' will be available at Brands Hatch this weekend - and perhaps on Friday? - after we were kept 'in the dark' at the September 5-6 DTM meeting!