When Harrison Scott announced his return to the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain for 2014, the 17 year old instantly became many people’s favourite to walk away with the drivers title come October.
That belief comes following a simply superb 2013 campaign for the Essex-based racer. In his first season in car-racing, Scott was at the sharp end of the Formula Ford GB field almost from the off with Falcon Motorsport, carding sixteen podium finishes in thirty races over the year.
That included a maiden victory on the penultimate weekend at Silverstone, with those results securing him second overall in the championship, the Scholarship class title, and the Mazda Road To Indy Driver of the Year award.
TheCheckeredFlag.co.uk caught up with Scott at the recent Autosport International Show to get his thoughts on his brilliant year.
“I’m over the moon with how my first season in car-racing went,” he said. “To be scholarship champion, finish second overall and win the Mazda competition, I couldn’t have asked for much more to be honest,” said Scott.
Scott Shined With Falcon In 2013 – Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
“Me and Falcon were new to the Formula Ford championship, so we weren’t sure how we were going to get on. As the season went on, we soon realised how strong we were and getting the win at Silverstone, my first car-racing win, I was delighted.”
Whilst Scott enjoyed much success over the year, despite his best efforts, he still had to spend the majority of the campaign following in the wheel-tracks of runaway champion Dan Cammish, the JTR driver having won 24 consecutive races en-route to the title.
Whilst you could imagine a driver might become disheartened in that situation, Scott says he relished the challenge of trying to end the streak.
“It wasn’t a bad thing having Dan and JTR there, without them we wouldn’t have had someone as comparable to put ourselves against,” he explained.
“I wasn’t ever down-heartened by his pace, it obviously got annoying at times, but it just made me strive to push harder to try and beat him. Without him there, we could have won more races, but we wouldn’t have developed and learnt as much.”
“It wasn’t a bad thing having Dan there” – Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
2013 was a transitional year for the Formula Ford GB championship, with the introduction of wings to the EcoBoost cars, as well as a highly-publicised return to the British Touring Car Championship package.
The initial decision to add wings, plus some low grid numbers and Cammish’s unbeaten run to the title meant the series drew some criticism from the motorsport community over the course of the year, something Scott feels was unwarranted.
“The criticism is not fair at all to be honest,” Scott commented. “The Ford is a great car, it’s got a lot more power than the comparable junior single-seater categories, and it really teaches and develops you as a driver.
“The cars moving around underneath you a lot more, so you have to gain that confidence to control it. Ford themselves and Racing Line, it was a great, well organised championship that ran smoothly, and I was not disappointed with it one bit.”
After a long winter deliberating his options for the upcoming season, including the possibility of heading stateside following his successful Mazda award prize test, Scott will be returning to Formula Ford GB this season with Falcon Motorsport.
His focus for the upcoming campaign is clear … he’s back to win the championship.
“We obviously want to go one better than we did last year, using everything that I have learned so far. It would be nice to be able to show the sort of dominance that Dan did, but the focus is just on going out there and winning the championship,” he concluded.
The thirty round 2014 Formula Ford GB season kicks off with the opening triple header on March 29/30 at Brands Hatch.
