1 December, 2008: Essex-based team GW Racing is to return to the British Formula Ford Championship next season and has already signed the first of its drivers for a planned three-car assault on the Ford-backed series.

Thirty-two-year-old Yorkshireman Mark Harper is the driver on pole for GWR; he made his track debut in October in the Formula Ford Festival and will race a Duratec-engined Van Diemen chassis in '09.

"The Festival was very much 'in at the deep end' for me," says agricultural contractor Mark. "I was driving a Zetec-engined car, and I enjoyed it, but it whetted my appetite for the greater power of a Duratec machine. I have already started a test programme with GWR and the Van Diemen and my times are coming down nicely. I can't wait for the season to get underway."

GWR team chief Gerald Webb has secured three cars for the coming season and is seeking further drivers. The team last contested British Formula Ford in 2007.

GWR and all the major Formula Ford teams will be represented at the British Formula Ford Sampler Day, to be held at Silverstone tomorrow (Tuesday). Some 55 drivers, two-thirds of them with previous racing experience, have registered to attend the free event, which offers them the opportunity to meet the teams, drive their cars and discover what the championship has to offer.