| DRIVER
NEWS: Yorkshire team gives teenage race ace his big chance
25 March 2010:
Although still too young to take his driving test, Harrogate
teenager Adam Parsley will be pitting his talents behind the wheel
against some of the world's best over the Easter weekend.
The 16-year-old
Rossett School pupil makes the massive jump from the
highly-competitive British karting arena to the Dunlop MSA Formula
Ford Championship of Great Britain, which roars off the grid at
Cheshire's prestigious Oulton Park circuit on April 3.
Parsley will be one
of 23 drivers from the UK, Finland, the Netherlands, Ireland and
Denmark hoping the series will open the door to motor racing
stardom - just as it did for some of the biggest names in the
sport, including F1 greats Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen and Mark
Webber as well as current world champion Jenson Button.
The youngster will
be in safe hands with new team Harkesport, led by race engineer
Roger Parkes, whose career includes stints working with Button and
Webber as well as Dutch racing great Jan Lammers in series
including Le Mans, Formula 3 and Formula Ford.
"We have to be
realistic and Adam's not under any pressure for race wins
yet," said Parkes. "This is his first year in the series
recognised as the nursery for future talent and it's all going to
be about learning.
"Five years in
karts has given him a racing driver's instincts but the extra
weight and a gearbox present new challenges which Adam can only
pick up through time on the track. We know he's young and
inexperienced but he deserves his big chance and the team will be
doing everything possible to help him make the most of it."
Supported by
Yorkshire engineering company, the Flow Group, Parsley racked up
some creditable top 10 results in the prestigious Formula Kart
Stars championship in 2009 and the Motors TV Karting Challenge in
2007, supplementing stints on the national stage with club
championships, finishing second in the South Yorkshire Kart Club
series in 2008.
The teenager will
be joining Harrogate's Mark Harper at Harkesport, who will be
racing the second car after founding the team with Parkes after a
year's racing in the championship in 2009.
Parsley said:
"It's not been easy getting this far and I know I'm starting
2010 quite a long way behind most of the other drivers in terms of
track time but Harkesport has done everything possible to give me
this opportunity and I'm determined not to let them down." |
