| MACLEOD
CROWNED BRITISH FORMULA FORD CHAMPION
23 September,
2007: Callum MacLeod today clinched the 2007 British Formula
Ford Championship title in the finest possible style, leading
every inch of the 23rd round of the series from pole position to
chequered flag. For good measure, he lowered his own circuit lap
record on the way to his 12th race victory of the year.
It was a copybook
performance from the Ford-backed championship's season-long
leader, and the 19-year-old Northampton driver was delighted:
"It's a great way to win the championship. I decided to get
my head down at the start and to push as hard as possible; I was
able to get away and then relax a little towards the end."
Callum paid tribute
to his car, the French-designed Mygale chassis, to his engine
supplier Scholar, and to his team, Kent's Jamun Racing, for whom
this was a third successive British Formula Ford Championship
victory: "My car has been fantastic all season and I couldn't
be with a better or more supportive team. I'm delighted to have
been able to repay all their hard work."
MacLeod wins not
only a year's use of a Ford Focus ST road car but also a free
registration into the 2008 British Formula 3 International Series.
He has tests lined up with both the Fluid Motorsport and Ultimate
Motorsport F3 teams and has, he says, every intention of being on
the F3 grid next season.
Both of the Brands
Hatch rounds provided superb entertainment for the large and
appreciative crowd gathered for the prestigious World Touring Car
Championship event. A 25-car Formula Ford field gathered in Kent,
with drivers from seven nations taking part.
Saturday's race was
a cracker, with three different leaders and the top three
separated by less than four-tenths of a second at the line.
MacLeod led initially - from his 15th pole position of the season
- but an astute Linton Stuteley seized the advantage from the
champion elect on lap two, setting up the move into Paddock Hill
Bend and executing it beautifully through the Druids hairpin and
Graham Hill Bend.
MacLeod fought back
with gusto but his Mygale became tangled with that of Stuteley at
Westfield on the fourth lap, leaving the way clear for another of
the French chassis, driven by Jay Bridger, to shoot past both of
them and into the lead. "I could see that something was going
to happen between them," said Jay, "and I just waited
and positioned my car perfectly to benefit when it did…"
But although
claiming the lead was relatively easy for Bridger, hanging on to
it was going to be another matter entirely. Jay came under intense
pressure from MacLeod for the remaining eight laps but never gave
his opponent a moment's opportunity to pull alongside. At the
chequered flag they were separated by a shade under a hundredth of
a second, and Haynes of Maidstone-backed Bridger was jubilant
finally to have broken his British Formula Ford Championship duck,
on what was his 20th birthday weekend.
Stuteley's grasp of
third place was loosened completely on the seventh lap, a horde of
rivals muscling their way past with Tandy at the head of the
queue. But it was not Nick who claimed the final podium place -
that honour went instead to David Brown, who was driving his Kevin
Mills Racing Van Diemen like a man possessed.
Brown outmanoeuvred
Tandy for third three laps from the end, having already posted
fastest lap of the race, and was crawling all over the back of
MacLeod on the final lap. "I just kept pushing and
pushing," said the Glasgow 19-year-old. "My twin aims
for the season were to get on to the podium and to set a fastest
lap. I never thought I'd achieve them both in the same race."
Tandy held on to
fourth ahead of Stuteley, James Nash, Marcus Weller, Steve Roberts
and Sarah Playfair, with South African Marc Murray rounding out
the top 10 and taking 'international class' honours, just ahead of
Japan's Takashi Nagase and Finn Jesse Krohn.
The best placed of
the visiting Australian drivers was Joshua Scott, who piloted his
Spectrum to 13th on his UK debut. His compatriot Ashley Walsh was
on the brink of the top 10 when he ran off the road on the ninth
lap. Another visiting Aussie, Nicki Templer, placed 20th.
Once again on the
pole today, MacLeod concentrated on opening a gap on his pursuers,
led by Stuteley and Tandy, right from the outset. By the end of
the opening lap he was half a second in the clear and had extended
that to 1.6 seconds by the end of lap two, aided by a
record-breaking sub-90 second lap of the Brands Grand Prix
circuit. Callum's 12th win was never in doubt after that.
Behind MacLeod a
furious battle raged for second between Stuteley, Tandy and
Bridger, with Nick and Jay bumping Linton back to fourth out of
Paddock Hill Bend on the fourth lap. Tandy was quick to distance
himself and secure second, but Bridger was unable to shake
Stuteley from his tail and Linton repassed for third six laps from
the end.
Murray claimed
fifth after finding a way past Nash early on, with James happy
enough to secure sixth spot and maintain his modest lead over
Tandy in the battle for championship runner-up spot. Brown placed
seventh and Adrian Campfield eighth, with Walsh making up for his
Saturday disappointment to take ninth.
Tenth place looked
to be going the way of Freddie Hunt after Steve Roberts' Van
Diemen expired on the final lap, but Playfair nipped ahead of the
late World Champion James's son at the last to push Freddie back
to 11th; it was nonetheless Hunt's best result of the season.
Neither Scott nor
Templer made the end: Joshua clipped Marcus Weller's slow-starting
car away from the line while Nicki's Spectrum expired five laps
from the end.
With the
championship now settled, MacLeod can relish the prospect of a
carefree finish to his British Formula Ford season next weekend at
Rockingham, and also look ahead to his bid for Formula Ford
Festival glory, back at Brands next month.
Provisional
results
British Formula Ford round 22 (of 25)
Brands Hatch 22/9/2007. 12 laps / 27.61miles
1, Jay Bridger, UK/Tonbridge, Fluid/Mygale, 18m22.202s
2, Callum MacLeod, UK/Northampton, Jamun/Mygale, +0.094s
3, David Brown, UK/Glasgow, Mills/Van Diemen, +0.365s
4, Nick Tandy, UK/Bedford, JTR/Ray, +1.144s
5, Linton Stuteley, UK/Stevenage, Getem/Mygale, +5.494s
6, James Nash, UK/Newport Pagnell, Mills/Van Diemen, +5.816s
Fastest lap: Brown 1m30.396s / 91.63mph
Round 23 / Brands
Hatch 23/9/2007. 12 laps / 27.61miles
1, Callum MacLeod, UK/Northampton, Jamun/Mygale, 18m13.472s
2, Nick Tandy, UK/Bedford, JTR/Ray, +6.651s
3, Linton Stuteley, UK/Stevenage, Getem/Mygale, +9.343s
4, Jay Bridger, UK/Tonbridge, Fluid/Mygale, +9.633s
5, Marc Murray, ZA/Sudbury, Jamun/Mygale, +10.216s
6, James Nash, UK/Newport Pagnell, Mills/Van Diemen, +13.047s
Scholarship class: Matt Dobson, UK/Colchester/Van Diemen RF03,
16th +1m5.424s
Fastest lap: MacLeod 1m29.958s / 92.08mph Record |
