James Abbott has taken his maiden victory in the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain in the reversed grid race at Brands Hatch. The Radical Motorsports racer claimed pole position for the second round of the meeting, which flips the top half of the grid over based on the race 1 finishing result, holding the top spot through Paddock Hill on the first lap.
Throughout the race, Abbott was chased by the Falcon Motorsport pairing of Harrison Scott and Ricky Collard. Max Marshall initially held second place but was passed for position by Collard on lap two. The JTR Motorsport driver lost out to Scott a lap later, the #6 machine then set off to chase down his team mate, making the pass on lap twelve of twenty-six in a move at clearways.
Scott set off to chase down the leading car but didn’t have enough time to get the job done. At the end of the race the gap was only four tenths. Collard took his first overall podium in just his second Formula Ford GB race.
Abbott was relieved at the end of the race as he took the top step of the podium for his first time in a Formula Ford car. He told the series website, “It all depended where you started, and I was lucky to be on pole. Harrison and I were at it all the way in the second half; he was quicker through the first half of the lap and I was quicker in the second half. It was really just a case of staying consistent and trying not to make any mistakes.”
Marshall held out for fourth place ahead of Jamun Racing’s Jack Barlow. Jayde Kruger could only manage sixth and relinquishes his early control on the championship to Scott after the Falcon man took two second places from the first day of action. Juan Rosso was the last of four drivers to split first and second in the Scholarship class.
Sam Brabham made a great start on his recovery after a DNF in the first race of the championship. He started from the back row of the grid, passing five drivers on his way to ninth place. Connor Mills wasn’t so fortunate and recorded his second non-finish of the championship.
Ashely Sutton took second in the Scholarship class, moving up a place from his race 1 finish. That put Chris Mealin into third in the scholarship class ahead of Louise Richardson, Ben Constanduros and Greg Holloway. James Webb was the final classified runner which puts both Sinters at the back of the pack and leaves SWB Motorsport’s drivers bracketing Sam Brabham at the bottom of the points table.
