Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Argenti Motorsport will expand into GB3 next season through a technical partnership with junior single-seater powerhouse Prema.

Argenti, which is owned by two-time Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion and British Formula 3 National class race-winner Michael Meadows, began as a karting team before moving into British Formula 4 in 2020 by taking over the cars previously run by Double R Racing.

The Banbury-based squad has won 10 races during its five years in British F4, while Casper Stevenson came third in the standings in 2020 and Matias Zagazeta was runner-up the following year as Argenti drivers.

It will race in GB3 under the Argenti with Prema banner and is the second new team to join the grid for 2025, with Xcel Motorsport having announced a planned two-car entry last week.

GB3 is introducing a brand new car for next season, and will also race at Monza for the first time, as it aims to attract grids of up to 30 cars.

“We are excited to be making the move in to the GB3 championship for 2025, ” said Meadows. “As a team, we have enjoyed notable successes in both karting and F4, so this is a natural progression for us. Doing so as the championship introduces a new car makes a lot of sense, and we’re excited to begin working with the Tatuus MSV GB3-025.

“To make this move by forming a technical partnership with Prema, one of the most successful single-seater teams of all-time, highlights our commitment and ambition with this project. We are confident that through this partnership we will be able to be very competitive and look forward to starting.”

Prema’s involvement is its first in a Britain-based single-seater championship, the Italian outfit having accumulated a huge number of junior single-seater titles in its homeland and across Europe during its illustrious 41-year history.

“We’re looking forward to embarking on our technical partnership with Argenti Motorsport and competing in the GB3 championship,” said Prema’s team principal Rene Rosin. “The launch of a new car is always exciting, and it falls in line nicely with our current programmes.”

The post Argenti Motorsport partners with Prema for 2025 GB3 entry appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Ida Wood

The end-of-year classics once again attracted big names, but the national and regional series in Formula Ford in its various forms also had strong grids this year. Here’s what happened across the world

United Kingdom

This year turned out to mark the end of BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600. For two years there have been two national series in England for modern cars, with United FFord being the rival offering from James Beckett Motorsport and run under MotorSport Vision Racing’s watch. From 2024 onwards only the latter series will continue to run.

This big change was shared with and then reported by Autosport in August, with the National FF1600 teams then putting out a statement once the news became public:

FF1600 National are excited to share the news that National FFord will have a new home next year after the BRSCC announced a collaboration with MSVR. This shake up will see the professional teams move from the National championship over to the United FFord championship, where the co-ordinator James Beckett is working on building an exciting and enticing calendar for the 2024 season.

 

As professional teams within FFord, we are hugely excited by the move and want to assure all our current and future customers that our usual expert service, alongside the brilliant and entertaining racing that FFord offers, will remain at the forefront and we will continue to bring you all the action from each of the rounds next year. We all truly believe in and recognise the importance of FFord within the landscape of UK motorsport and are all dedicated to seeing the passion remain and the grids grow in the future.

United FFord later announced its 2024 calendar, which retains an England-only schedule (while National FF1600 has had a history of racing in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) but does include a first ever trip to former World Rallycross Championship venue Lydden Hill.

Photo: Ida Wood

What happened at race meetings this year gave just as much to talk about as what was happening behind the scenes, and in National FF1600 it was Team Dolan’s Jordan Kelly who won the title. Kelly won seven races, and really hit form in the second half of the season as he went unbeaten at Knockhill and Silverstone. His other victories came at Snetterton, Kirkistown and Brands Hatch.

Oldfield Motorsport’s Lucas Romanek was his title rival and led the points for much of the campaign, winning the Oulton Park season opener then taking further victories at Snetterton, Donington Park and Kirkistown. He was disqualified from the results of the entire last round at Silverstone due to an incident that occurred once he and Kelly got out of their cars.

Ammonite Motorsport’s Elliott Budzinski – a Team USA scholar in 2022 – came third in the standings with one win, and Romanek’s team-mate Brandon McCaughan was fourth with two victories. Chris Middlehurst did little more than half of the season but by winning three races the FF1600 veteran was able to come sixth in the standings.

Another name to watch though the year was Kevin Mills Racing’s Lucas Blakeley. The Esports star made an impressive transition to real-world racing, and even won a race at Brands Hatch.

Romanek won the United FFord title by a huge margin, scoring 65 points while runner-up Jacob Tofts only scored 25 and no other drivers scored more than 18. One reason for Romanek’s domination was that he did most of the rounds, unlike almost everyone else, and won 10 of the 14 races. Middlehurst (Dolan) won the season-opening race at Donington Park, while Tofts (Souley Motorsport) took his only win in a depleted field of six at Oulton Park. The next round at Brands Hatch however was used by 28 drivers as a warm-up to the FFord Festival, and Rory Smith (B-M Racing) won both races.

Brands also hosted the season finale, where Romanek lapped everyone up to and including fifth place as he took two wins.

After almost a decade racing in Castle Combe FF1600, TM Racing’s Felix Fisher finally won the title in 2022 after a season-long battle with Luke Cooper. Their lengthy rivalry continued into 2023, and Fisher came out on top for a second time.

Photo: Craig Woollard

He started the season as he meant to go on by winning from pole, and he went on to win the next three races. Cooper struck back with a double in round three, then in July the winning streak of Cooper and Fisher families dating back to 2021 was ended by Romanek who won a damp race. The rain got worse later in the day when race two was held, and Fisher won again.

Romanek got another victory a month later in dramatic fashion. Fisher beat Cooper to pole by 0.61s, but Cooper got ahead on lap one of race one and resisted Fisher until they clashed going over Avon Rise on lap eight in a racing incident. First place was inherited by Romanek. In race two Fisher bounced back to take his sixth win of the year, which meant even with Cooper winning both races of the final round he was able to take the title by four points.

Another driver who had a successful title defence was Team DDR’s David McCullough, who became Northern Irish FF1600 champion for a fourth time. Alan Davidson took his far older car, a Mondiale M89, to a win and second in the standings, while Kelly and Jordan Dempsey also picked up victories. Dempsey’s win earned him the Martin Donnelly Trophy.

You can click the hyperlinked text to read about all of the drama at this year’s FFord Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy.

United States

The SCCA National Runoffs in October featured races for Formula Continental (which uses FF2000 cars) and Formula F (where 1600c engines from Ford and Honda are used). Nolan Allaer was the FContinental winner for the second year in a row, beating his dad Robert to victory by 5.389s, and also was the FF winner at Virginia International Raceway but only by 0.051s over Jonathan Kotyk in a photo finish.

The F1600 Championship Series lacks the second ‘F’ because of its use of Honda rather than Ford engines, but is the USA’s answer to National FF1600. Porter Aiken claimed the 2023 crown with a campaign that featured seven wins, a pole and five fastest laps.

Photo: Formula Race Promotions

His title-winning margin was 94 points, with Team USA scholars Ayrton Houk and Jack Sullivan coming second and third in the standings. All three headed to the FFord Festival afterwards, with Aiken replacing Romanek in Oldfield’s line-up while the Team USA duo joined Ammonite Motorsport.

Canada

Winning the equivalent Team Canada Scholarship was 16-year-old Logan Pacza, who dominated Ontario’s Toyo Tires F1600 series. He became champion despite missing the last round, having topped qualifying at all five rounds he contested and won 12 out of 15 races. He finished second in two others, with only one start in the series not leading to a podium.

Australia

Australia has its national championship, but the huge country also has state series that continue to be the starting point for drivers whose racing careers take them across the world and into different categories.

Matthew Hillyer became Australian FFord champion by a huge 90-point margin with a total score of 352 points and 13 wins. He won all three races at Winton Motor Raceway and at Phillip Island, with double wins at three other tracks.

Jake Santalucia was championship runner-up with four wins, and Zak Lobko was third with two wins. The only other drivers to win were Xavier Kokai, who is moving up to USF2000 in America this year with Velocity Racing Development, and Harrison Sellars. Kokai’s victory came at Symmons Plains Raceway, a track on the island state of Tasmania which has only hosted the championship twice in the last decade.

43 years on from winning the Australian F2 title, Richard Davison won the Victorian FFord championship’s Kent class, while Joe Fawcett topped the points table for drivers in cars with Ford’s Duratec engines. Santalucia was runner-up again, this time by just 21 points and after missing the opening round.

Photo: FFord Australia

In New South Wales, Lobko and Kaleb Belak both scored 188 points in the championship’s Fiesta class and both went unbeaten in the two rounds they did each. There were more drivers using Kent engines and they competed for the John Smith Trophy. Thomas Kalamakis took top honours with five wins from 12 races and Will Liston, driving a car from 1986, came second in the standings.

In the combined Duratec and Kent classification of the Queensland championship, Liam Loiacono became champion by taking pole and winning the final four races of the season at Morgan Park Raceway. He had started the campaign by finishing 14th, 16th and 11th in the opening three races. One win was enough to put Oliver Loiacono second in the points, and Jeremy Mattea was the top Kent driver in fourth.

The Western Australia title was won by 16-year-old Logan Eveleigh, with Marc Redman pipping Brock Brewer to the runner-up spot by one point. Motorsport journalist Andrew van Leeuwen came 14th in the standings.

New Zealand

Alex Crosbie became New Zealand FFord champion for a second successive year in the final round of the season at Ruapuna after several duels with title rival Blake Knowles.

The title-deciding 12-lap finale counted for double points, and William Neale started on pole with points leader Crosbie in fourth. Knowles led the early running, then several laps of trading first place with Neale enabled Crosbie to close in on and then pass both to win the race and the title. Second place for Knowles earned him the 2022-23 South Island FF1600 crown and second in the national standings.

The Tony Quinn Foundation has organised for this year’s champion to get prize tests in Formula Regional Oceania’s car and in a Formula 4 car in the USA. The latter “will be with a team that has a close association with an IndyCar team”. The champion of the Class 2 title in the 2023-24 North Island FFord season will get a prize test in an old Toyota Racing Series car.

Photo: Euan Cameron

It took until the final lap of the final race to determine who would win the 2022-23 title, with Dylan Grant leaving Manfeild as champion. He entered the final round with a 33-point lead, equivalent to a 10th place finish, with Blake Dowdall and Mason Potter chasing him.

Dowdall set the pace in qualifying, with Grant third fastest but not taking long to get into the lead of the weekend’s first race. Once ahead he could not be passed, and he took victory ahead of Zac Blincoe and Dowdall.

Blincoe won races two and three, the latter awarding double points, with Dowdall beating Grant to second place in both. Grant had a difficult job holding on to third on the season’s final lap though, with championship chairman Shane Drake an Potter pressuring him hard. But he held on, with third place earning him the title and a test in a TRS car.

Europe

Matthieu Midy was the benchmark driver of Trophee FFord Kent in France, beating Arnaud Dousse to the title by over 100 points. But Dousse did finish 11 seconds clear of Midy to win the European FFord Festival final at Circuit de Croix-en-Ternois, and in Midy’s absence at the Historic French Grand Prix pre-season Dousse won race one and was pipped to race two victory by just 0.045s by Gislain Genecand.

Portugal’s vaguely named Single Seater Series attracted very few FFord entries in 2023, although Al Capone (not to be confused with the dead American gangster) competed in the Formula Renault class. Fernando Mayer Gaspar was the top FFord driver by 44s in race one at the Estoril Top Motor Show, then beat Capone to overall victory in race two by 17s.

South Africa

The South African Formula 1600 season began at Kyalami in February, and Troy Dolinschek comfortably set the pace in qualifying. But his engine cover came loose at the start of race one and Gerard Geldenhuys swept by into the lead.

Photo: Colin Windell Images / Motorsport Media

Although Dolinschek had the pace to run in second, he was required to pit due to the flapping bodywork and Nicholas Van Weely became Geldenhuys’ closest rival. But he didn’t have the pace to battle for victory, and Geldenhuys pulled away to win. Dolinschek finished 12th, but bounced back to win race two.

Killarney hosted round two a month later, and Antwan Geldenhuys took pole on a damp track. Dolinschek could only qualify 11th, but he came through to win race one. Geldenhuys spun away his pole advantage on the opening lap, while Dolinschek climbed six spots, and by lap three he was in a podium position. It wasn’t long before he was leading, passing Jason Coetzee who had a 30s penalty for jumping the start.

Race two went to Gerard Geldenhuys, while Dolinschek’s recovery drive this time brought him up to third.

Next up was Zwartkops in May, and Dolinschek took pole and both victories to move into the championship lead. The on-track battles tightened up in round four at Aldo Scribante, with Antwan Geldenhuys, Coetzee, Dolinschek, Alex Vos and Van Weely split by just 0.14s at the top of the times in qualifying.

Dolinschek rose to the front to win twice, but only by 0.547s in race one and 0.986s in race two. Coetzee finished second in both to become Dolinschek’s closest championship rival. After losing the lead on the opening lap of race one, Geldenhuys fell down the order and eventually retired when he collided with Vos.

Round five was at former Formula 1 venue East London, and Dolinschek very almost added another two victories to his tally. He did win race one, after a dramatic late pass on poleman Siyabonga Mankonkwana that cost him several places, but lost race two in a photo finish. Van Weely beat him to the chequered flag by 0.088s.

The field then returned to Killarney, and the close action continued. Dolinschek beat Gerard Geldenhuys to pole by 0.093s, and grew that gap to two seconds to win race one and the title, then led home Coetzee in race two.

Photo: Investchem Formula 1600

There was still lots up for grabs in the final round at Zwartkops, and it was Vos who edged Coetzee to pole in qualifying. Championship runner-up Coetzee finally took his first win in race one and by just 0.203s, with Mankonkwana and Vos completing the podium, while in race two Mankonkwana also became a first-time winner.

South African F1600’s 2022 champion Josh le Roux moved into the Global Touring Car Championship last year, and Dolinschek got a prize GTC test by winning the 2023 F1600 title.

The post Reviewing 2023’s international FFord action, and what to expect in 2024 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FF1600 National

Team Dolan’s Jordan Kelly won the BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 title in last Saturday’s season finale on Silverstone’s National layout.

A grid of 18 cars turned up, with many drivers warming up for November’s Walter Hayes Trophy at the track. Seven drivers were guest entries.

Kelly and his title rival Lucas Romanek led the way in qualifying, with Kelly beating the Oldfield Motorsport driver to pole by 0.029 seconds. Dolan’s Chris Middlehurst was 0.132s behind in third, and factory Ray driver Jeremy Fairbairn was fourth.

Romanek got past Kelly on the opening lap of race one, by just 0.069s, and after six laps was 0.888s clear as Kelly had to keep an eye on Middlehurst behind. But then Kelly started to close in, finishing lap eight 0.06s behind, the next lap 0.059 in arrears and then finally passing Romanek on lap 10 but staying in second as Fairbairn jumped from fourth to first.

On the next lap Kelly got ahead, then Middlehurst went from fourth to second on lap 12. From then on it was a battle between those two for the win, and Kelly triumphed by 0.675s.

Romanek passed Fairbairn for third on lap 14 of 20, and Fairbairn was then relegated to fifth by Oldfield’s racing returnee Josh Smith. They got involved in a proper tussle, dropping them off the back of Romanek, and on the penultimate lap Fairbairn was able to get back ahead.

Smith got the points for fourth place since Fairbairn was a guest entrant, and then got the points for third after drama later in the day.

The provisional race one results set the race two grid, and once again it was a battle between Kelly, Middlehurst and Romanek at the front early on.

Kelly was finally able to shake off his rivals on lap 11, and he was 2.633s clear when on lap 15 the title became all but guarateed as Romanek retired in the pits after contact with Middlehurst (with contact between the pair in the previous race briefly getting Romanek disqualified from that encounter before winning an appeal).

Middlehurst was unable to close in on Kelly in the remaining laps, meaning the champion ended the season with seven wins, while there was a five-car fight for third far behind.

Elliott Budzinski led Fairbairn through the first nine laps, then Smith passed both and Budzinski also dropped behind Fairbairn and Morgan Quinn. Lucas Blakeley joined in, and was sixth by lap 12 as Fairbairn retired with engine failure.

On the next lap Budzinski was back in fourth and leading Blakeley and Smith, then on lap 15 Blakeley was passed by Smith and Quinn with third to eighth covered by 0.892s.

Smith took third on lap 16 and held it to the finish under intense pressure from Budzinski and then Blakeley. Budzinski dropped to seventh behind Jacob Tofts, was back in fifth on the penultimate lap then dropped behind Tofts again on the final lap. Tofts had gone into the final lap behind Michael Moyers, who had an engine failure in pre-event testing, but finished three places ahead of him. Moyers was just 1.579s off the podium in eighth, but was lifted to seventh – with Blakeley inheriting third – as a five-second penalty for track limits abuse was given to Smith.

The final twist came after the race, as Romanek was disqualified from the entire meeting due to an incident that occurred once the drivers had got out of their cars. He is understood to have been given a further punishment, although neither the series or organising club will comment to Formula Scout on the matter. The stewards’ decision promoted Fairbairn to the race one podium.

Results round-up
Race 1 (20 laps)
1 Jordan Kelly Team Dolan 20m49.571s
2 Chris Middlehurst Team Dolan +0.675s
3 Jeremy Fairbairn Ray +5.628s
4 Josh Smith Oldfield Motorsport +5.852s
5 Elliott Budzinski Ammonite Motorsport +8.850s
6 Jacob Tofts KMR Sport +10.957s
7 Michael Moyers Simon Hadfield Motorsport +11.068s
8 Lucas Blakeley KMR Sport +11.113s
9 Morgan Quinn Team Dolan +11.960s
10 Brandon McCaughan Oldfield Motorsport +12.463s
Pole: Kelly, 1m01.397s
Fastest lap: Middlehurst, 1m01.579s

Race 2 (20 laps)
1 Kelly 20m46.866s
2 Middlehurst +4.101s
3 Blakeley +14.109s
4 Tofts +14.235s
5 Budzinski +14.556s
6 Quinn +14.688s
7 Moyers +15.431s
8 Smith +18.852s
9 Lewis Fox Team Fox Racing +21.188s
10 Jack Sullivan Ammonite Motorsport +23.224s
FL: Middlehurst, 1m01.878s

Championship standings
1 Kelly 413   2 Romanek 338   3 McCaughan 310   4 Budzinski 314   5 Quinn 282   6 Nolan Allaer 246   7 Middlehurst 231   8 Blakeley 143   9 Nathan Yu 118   10 Jamie Sharp 114

The post Jordan Kelly wins BRSCC National FF1600 title in Silverstone showdown appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Ida Wood

Jordan Kelly reduced Lucas Romanek’s BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 points lead with victory in race two at Knockhill.

The Team Dolan driver had already taken pole and won the David Leslie Trophy-awarding race one, and he followed it up with a dominant victory by 10.641 seconds over Romanek.

With the race one classification setting the grid for race two, it meant Kelly started on pole ahead of Ammonite Motorsport’s Elliott Budzinski and Romanek. The move for second was made by Romanek on lap one, while Budzinski held third place until lap 10 when he was passed by Morgan Quinn.

Budzinski lost another place to team-mate Nolan Allaer at the finish courtesy of a five-second penalty for track limits abuse, while Quinn chased Romanek and finished just 0.156s behind him.

Allaer started fourth but ran as low as sixth early on, having been passed by Quinn and Oldfield Motorsport’s Brandon McCaughan. But on lap five McCaughan dropped to eighth, and he had to pass Drew Stewart and then former British Touring Car Championship racer Derek Palmer Jr to get into sixth.

Thereon it was a tight battle for seventh, with Stewart beating B-M Racing’s David McArthur to the position by 0.221s and Palmer by 0.238s in a photo finish. But track limits penalties for Stewart and McArthur meant Palmer was classified ahead of both.

Two rounds remain of the National FF1600 season, meaning dropped scores will start to apply. Drivers who contest the whole season have to drop four races from their final points tally.

Race result (22 laps)

The post Romanek’s National FF1600 lead cut by another Kelly win appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Team Dolan

The BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 field shrank to nine cars for the annual trip up to Scotland, but the action at Knockhill delivered as expected.

Teams tested at the track during the week, and on Saturday morning competitive action got underway with a misty 20-minute qualifying session ahead of two races. The first would award the David Leslie Trophy, which has been handed out to winners of FF1600 races for many years.

Team Dolan’s Jordan Kelly claimed pole, his personal best laptime of 54.429s putting him just 0.08 seconds ahead of Ammonite Motorsport’s Elliott Budzinski in second place. His team-mate Nolan Allaer was 0.12s behind in third, and Kelly’s team-mate Morgan Quinn was only two tenths off pole in fourth.

Oldfield Motorsport’s points leader Lucas Romanek qualified fifth, and was only 0.003s slower than Quinn. The field was completed by B-M Racing’s returnee David McArthur, former British Touring Car Championship racer Derek Palmer and Drew Stewart, a regular of the now defunct Scottish FFord championship.

Race one was set to a length of 22 laps, and on the first of those Romanek moved up to third ahead of Aller and Quinn. Kelly led by a third of a second, and only on lap eight was he able to grow his advantage over Budzinski to two thirds of a second.

On lap 11 that gap was at a second, and it only took four more laps for Kelly to double it. By the end of the race he was 4.065s clear, and therefore winning the aforementioned trophy, with Romanek a further 7.628s behind.

Quinn took fourth from Allaer on lap three and stuck to Romanek’s rear through most of the race but could not find a way past. Not being able to move ahead and utilise his suprerior pace ultimately cost him more than just a shot at finishing third.

Allaer was relegated to sixth on lap 13 by Oldfield’s Brandon McCaughan, who then passed Quinn four laps later. Quinn regained the place on the final lap, finishing 0.384s behind Romanek and 0.223s ahead of McCaughan.

But both had five-second penalties for track limits abuse, meaning Aller was promoted past both to fourth place having met the chequered flag just 0.491s behind McCaughan.

McArthur finished a lonely seventh, while Stewart and Palmer could not be separated in their battle for eighth.

Race result (22 laps)

The post Jordan Kelly wins the David Leslie Trophy at Knockhill appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Ida Wood

KMR Sport’s Lucas Blakeley claimed his first BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 win in the reversed-grid race at Brands Hatch.

Blakeley lined up fourth on the grid, but made a strong start and committed to the outside line going through the first corners as PWR1 Racing’s Jeremy Fairbairn started slowly from pole.

Ammonite Motorsport’s Nolan Allaer went around the outside of him to take the lead straight away, and he had a gap of 0.152 seconds to Blakeley at the end of lap one. Blakeley was sat in his slipstream and he darted out on the run to Paddock Hill Bend, getting the move for the lead done by Druid.

Once ahead, Blakeley began to pull away and he finished the race 3.665s clear of second place. Allaer was quickly shuffled down to third by Oldfield Motorsport’s Brandon McCaughan, who actually finished 3.424s behind Blakeley but copped a five-second penalty for track limits abuse that dropped him to sixth place.

His team-mate and points leader Lucas Romanek therefore inherited second, although it was a tough job to climb the order. On lap four he almost went three-wide with Team Dolan’s Jordan Kelly and Allaer exiting Graham Hill Bend, and on lap five passed Kelly with Fairbairn doing the same a lap later.

Romanek then passed Allaer on lap seven, and had a big gap to make up on the top two. He eventually closed it down, but with Kelly on his tail pretty much throughout and they finished 0.141s apart.

Allaer was another to get a track limits penalty, meaning he dropped from fourth to eighth after holding off a queue of cars consisting of Morgan Quinn, Elliott Budzinski and Fairbairn.

Race result (18 laps)

The post Lucas Blakeley gets his first National FF1600 win at Brands Hatch appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Ida Wood

B-M Racing’s Jamie Sharp won a red-flagged second BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 race at Brands Hatch.

Race one victory put Team Dolan’s Jordan Kelly on pole ahead of Sharp, Morgan Quinn (Dolan) and points leader Lucas Romanek (Oldfield Motorsport).

Sharp got the jump on Kelly on lap one, while further back Ammonite Motorsport’s Elliott Budzinski passed Kevin Mills Racing’s Lucas Blakeley for fifth.

With clean air ahead of him, Sharp set the fastest lap next time around to build a lead of 0.727 seconds. He went even faster on lap three, growing his margin to 1.022s, and he kept at least a second between himself and Kelly until lap 10 when the gap between them shrank to 0.827s.

It went down even more on the next lap, and again the lap after that, until on lap 13 there was finally a battle for the lead again. Kelly tucked into Sharp’s slipstream through Clark Curve then had enough of a straightline speed advantage to jink to the outside and get alongside Sharp down the pit straight.

He went into lap 14 0.018s ahead of the long-time leader, and they ran side-by-side to Paddock Hill Bend. Sharp had the advantage there, and then there were yellow flags that neutralised their lead battle.

Those yellow flags turned into a safety car period and then red flags over the next laps, with the results being taken from the end of lap 14 after the chequered flag was waved on the lap after.

That meant Sharp took victory by 1.522s over Kelly, with Quinn a further 0.363s back in third. Romanek had a lonely run to fourth, and Blakeley – who like Sharp is making an FF1600 comeback this weekend – reclaimed fifth on lap four and then set the fastest lap.

Budzinski had been running in sixth until he had a gravelly off tha led to the race being neutralised and then stopped, with Oldfield’s Brandon McCaughan inheriting the position.

Race result (14 laps)

The post Sharp wins red-flagged National FF1600 race two at Brands Hatch appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FF1600 National / Team Dolan

Team Dolan’s Jordan Kelly won the opening BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 race of the weekend at Brands Hatch after a lengthy battle with Jamie Sharp.

It was Kelly’s team-mate Morgan Quinn who started from pole, having topped a qualifying session where the top five were spread by 0.026 seconds and the top two by just 0.01s.

Oldfield Motorsport’s points leader Lucas Romanek shared the front row with Quinn and he passed the poleman on the opening lap. Sharp, who won the 2021 FFord Festival at Brands Hatch and was making his FF1600 return, also got by Quinn but they were split by a tiny 0.13s at the end of the lap.

Quinn lost another place on lap two to Kelly, who continued the three-way fight for the lead into the next laps.

Sharp took the lead from Romanek at Graham Hill Bend on lap four of 18, with Kelly also able to get by before the end of the lap, and there was 0.169s splitting the top two heading into lap five.

Kelly immediately pressured Sharp and the leader had a wide moment and lost traction by running over some kerbs, but managed to stay ahead. They finished the lap side-by-side, but Kelly could not make a move happen when on the outside line for most corners.

On lap eight he tried at Paddock Hill Bend, then at Druids, and finally had enough momentum to turn that into the inside line on Sharp at Graham Hill Bend and to snatch the lead.

Sharp stayed in his mirrors thereon, with Quinn also applying pressure from behind after passing Romanek at Paddock Hill Bend on lap eight but falling back from the lead fight after a few laps.

Around a quarter of a second seperated the top two through the second half of the race, and Sharp attempted to take back the lead around the outside of Druids on the final lap but fell short of victory by 0.165s.

Quinn held third to the end, and late on pulled away from Romanek and Kevin Mills Racing’s FF1600 returnee Lucas Blakeley. Ammonite Motorsport’s Elliott Budzinski shadowed their fight throughout but did not try to involve himself and finished 0.184s behind Blakeley.

Privateer Tom Nippers lost ninth place to a five-second penalty for track limits abuse.

Race result (18 laps)

The post Kelly holds off Sharp to win National FF1600 race one at Brands Hatch appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Ida Wood

McLaren’s Esports driver Lucas Blakeley has already beaten Sebastian Vettel in real-world motorsport, and he’s since started his own single-seater career. Formula Scout was trackside for his first events

In February 2022, Sebastian Vettel was making headlines after he was beaten by a motorsport newcomer in a one-to-one heat driving electric rallycross cars on the snow in Pitea, Sweden in the multi-category Race of Champions event.

The driver who inflicted defeat on him was Lucas Blakeley, who is now in his early 20s and five weekends into his fledgling single-seater career. The first two weekends actually came last year, as Blakeley signed with Graham Brunton Racing to contest the Scottish Formula Ford championship in one of its Rays.

Round one took place on home soil at Knockhill and he qualified 13th on debut, with the UK-wide BRSCC National FF1600 field adding to the grid size, then round two took place in England and also combined the Scottish and BRSCC National grids.

But of the 20-plus drivers who took part across the first two rounds, only four were entered for Scottish championship points and the lack of interest for the remaining events at Knockhill meant one by one they were cancelled. Blakeley called it a day on his campaign before the final two events were called off as it was announced he was joining Veloce Racing as an Esports driver for the rest of 2022, and then he was signed by McLaren too for its F1 Esports endeavours.

The outcome of that move – having previously represented Aston Martin in the series – was title success for himself and the team, and then he was also championship runner-up in Scottish FFord due to the points table being taken from Croft.

McLaren held onto Blakeley’s services for 2023 and beyond with a multi-year deal, and have provided enough free weekends to him that he could pursue his real-world motorsport ambitions again.

The first opportunity came in April when he signed with Kevin Mills Racing to contest round two of the United FFord season at Silverstone, which he announced the day before the event, as well as the National FF1600 opener at Oulton Park a week later.

Photo: Lucas Blakeley

Formula Scout was there for both to see how Blakeley got on. It began with a very impressive qualifying showing around Silverstone’s National layout, where he was denied pole by just 0.14 seconds as the chequered flag waved and by none other than Michael Moyers, a driver who has won the Walter Hayes Trophy twice at the track.

But Blakeley took the lead into Brooklands on the opening lap of race one and soon created a slender 0.7s advantage. He stayed ahead for 13 of the race’s 15 laps, eventually being passed by FF1600’s 2023 dominator Lucas Romanek and then running wide at Brooklands on the final lap, losing second place to Moyers. He finished just 0.633s off victory.

“I led all but two laps, and if you told me before coming here I would be fighting with some really top level FFord guys, I’d have taken that every day of the week,” Blakeley said to Formula Scout. “To lead a real car race, it’s something I never thought I’d get to do.”

Race two was consumed by two safety car periods. The first came as a result of a stalled car and the second immediately followed when Blakeley was nudged from behind by Elliot Budzinski exiting Woodcote and spun backwards into the pitwall. Despite that sour end to his weekend, it was a learning experience he thoroughly enjoyed.

“I did Silverstone for like 20 minutes four years ago in a BMW [on a track day]. It didn’t help going into the day. So much to learn yesterday,” he said. “Tuesday I was at McLaren, Wednesday I was at the F1 studio with Codemasters, Thursday I was getting my seat made and Friday I was here for the test day. I didn’t ever think I’d get to be driving on a race weekend at Silverstone so very grateful.”

There was “immediate disappointment” for Blakeley once he realised he had missed out on pole.

“I was coming into the pits and I knew the last two laps I had traffic and that’s when the track was at its best. I had some time left in there. Crossed the line and I was like ‘I’ve lost pole, haven’t I?’. Because I knew the track was getting better and better, I knew I was on pole up to that point and I got traffic in the last two. Came into the pits and they guys just went ‘two.’

“I was really annoyed because we [were] only 0.14s off pole and I knew we had that, so immediate disappointment because I was so close. But you’ve got to realise ‘you know what, I’m actually on the front row here.’ It’s not all bad, P2, very strong result, the grid’s competitive, especially the front part there’s not a lot separating the top five or six. It was a very dynamic session, just trying to get the laps in, that’s where the hard part was.”

A reminder that Blakeley had done two race weekends and one test day in 2022, totalling six days of seat time, and his Silverstone comeback involved having to adapt to a wet-and-dry circuit as well as a “completely different” FF1600 chassis to the one he had raced a year prior. Of course, he utilised his simulator skills to prepare for his real-world racing return.

“I drove the FFord on iRacing around this very same track a month or so before coming here. Even though you’re never going to get 100% accuracy, there’s certain techniques like into Luffield just being patient off the throttle, timing of picking up the throttle as well, understanding how to rotate the car. On and off throttle is something that is quite big in these because when you’re off throttle you get a lot of rotation, the minute you get on the power you get understeer.

“I’ve put together everything I’ve ever learned, whether its on iRacing in FFord, whether its just on the sim in general from years of racing, karting came in useful today with the wet. Even from Race of Champions going sideways! I’ve had the privilege of experiencing very different avenues. I’m driving not as Lucas the sim racer, but as a FFord driver, and that’s the way I’m approaching it.

“I’m a perfectionist, you’ll never hear me say I’m 100% happy, which is why I was extremely angry after qualifying. I literally slammed the steering wheel because I knew it was close and it would have been amazing to get pole.”

“When we went in the full slicks session and I was carrying fourth gear sending through Copse with a bit of oversteer on the entry, it’s the most fun ever.”

Unsurprisingly “it was a good fun race” back in the cockpit, and after nailing the start “I tried my best to hang on” as the gap between the top two never went beyond nine tenths of a second.

“I always felt I was under attack, always defending. Tried to hold on, but I gave Lucas an inch and he took a mile. So fair play to him, he did a phenomenal drive. I tried, but it you’d told me before the weekend I’d be on a podium I’d absolutely take that.”

Blakeley was in fourth before being knocked out of race two, and dissapointing as it was, mostly “I was grateful I didn’t just bounce back onto the racing line because otherwise it would have been much bigger.”

With KMR’s preparation of the Spectrum chassis feeding his confidence on track, Blakeley was left “extremely happy with the progress” made at Silverstone.

There were fewer cars to fight against at Oulton Park, and Blakeley was the only KMR driver in the field. This time he was fifth in qualifying, 0.201s off pole and without “a big mistake on my fastest lap, we would have been P2”, but failed to get going from the grid in race one and was wheeled into the pits, where he started the race a lap down.

“Race one was just really unfortunate. The lights came on and as I tried to release the clutch, the pedal physically got stuck at the bottom. So I couldn’t get away and then race one basically became like a test session. But I actually had a rear-left puncture the whole race, so race one was useless.”

That meant he started race two from 11th, and he finished it in seventh and just 4.352s off the fight for victory.

“Race two was extremely strong. We had the fastest lap, we had very, very strong pace. Went from 11th to seventh in the end, but we were up to sixth at one point until we got squeezed off at a certain stage. We were fighting with the guys for the podium as well. The squabble we were in was for P3.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

“So we had a very good recovery, we were able to catch everyone in front of us, which is really encouraging because this grid’s really competitive. Overall very happy with how race two went, because I had to get my elbows out, had to take some risks.”

Being in one of FF1600’s classic pack battles, where queues of up to 10 cars can be closely slipstreaming each other, “was a baptism of fire”. But Blakeley admitted “when the lights go out and you start driving, you just turn into something different. You just go for gaps – if you watch it on a camera, you’d probably take a step back.”

Wheel-to-wheel racing was a box ticked after his lonely race one, and “some of the most fun I’ve had in racing” for years.

Blakeley wanted to make another single-seater outing before the F1 23 game hit the shelves on June 16 and occupied a lot of his time, but he did not get the call from KMR again until the day before.

The team had lost one of its GB4 drivers, and Blakeley joined them for the series’ two-day pre-event test at Snetterton. It was his first ever running in a slicks-and-wings car and he was eighth fastest, and when the test concluded he got the chance to stay with the team for the race weekend. While Blakeley has shown he “had the speed” in FF1600, competing in Formula 4 would be a new challenge.

He went fourth fastest in qualifying, but suffered a slow start in race one that dropped him to eighth, then later a spin that left him in 11th.

“Had to avoid a collision into turn one which forced me onto the marbles and caused the spin,” Blakeley said after. “Not much I could do there, but proud of how I kept my head down and showed worthy race pace.”

At the very start of race two he fought for fourth, but then struggled with tyre temperatures and finished seventh. The weekend concluded with a quiet run to the same position in race three.

“I didn’t really have any expectations coming into this, the testing or even the race weekend after I found out I was going to race,” he reflected later in the weekend.

“Qualifying was really strong. It’s good that we’ve shown that we’ve had the pace [in the races] to be where we qualified. It’s not gone 100% to plan in the races. I’m obviously a little bit gutted about that, but I’m still enormously proud of what we’ve done as a team. Without them I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to race in the first place.

“I’m living it to the maximum, I wanted to do the opportunity justice for myself and for the team. I would obviously love to [do more race weekends], but it might be the only time I get to do one. I’ve tried to enjoy it as if it’s the last time I’ll ever do it in my life because ultimately I know how these opportunities come about. You just don’t know whether opportunities are going to come about. I wanted to really savour and appreciate it.

“I’m out here as a racing driver, I’m not here as a sim racer. We’ll only see more and more [sim racers making the transition to real world racing] as time goes on. You’ve get various examples: Jimmy Broadbent, James Baldwin, a lot of people that are sort of leading the way.

“If I can help be a part of that in some way, whether small or big, and to help show that sim racing can be used as a platform to develop your talent and then transfer into the real thing, then ultimately I’ll be very happy. And if I can help inspire people along the way that’s also a massive bonus.

“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting quite a few people across the course of this weekend. If I can make someone’s day a little bit better by taking a few minutes to speak to them or showing them the car, that ultimately it makes everything worth it. If I can make one person’s day better then, ultimately, I feel like I’m using my position and my platform in a constructive and positive way.”

Following that event the focus returned to Esports, particularly with the upcoming first competitions for the new F1 game, but Blakeley still wants to make at least one more FF1600 outing in the second half of 2023. And just a few weeks ago he was also back in one of KMR’s GB4 cars as he did the pre-event test on Silverstone’s full Grand Prix layout.

Interviews conducted by Steve Whitfield

Blakeley’s single-seater career

The post Lucas Blakeley: the latest Esports star impressing in single-seaters appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: National FF1600

The BRSCC National and Northern Irish Formula Ford 1600 championships joined together this weekend at Kirkistown.

Qualifying and race one took place on Friday, with races two and three (which counted towards the Northern Irish championship) running on Saturday.

Team Dolan’s Jordan Kelly took his first category pole in qualifying by a tiny 0.022 seconds over Oldfield Motorsport’s Lucas Romanek, and with reigning champion Jordan Dempsey impressively just 0.082s off pole on his series return and competing as a privateer.

Oldfield’s Brandon McCaughan was 0.104s back in fourth, and Dolan’s returnee Matt Round-Garrido qualified fifth. Half a second covered the top 11.

Romanek took the lead early in race one before yellow flags waved, as Round-Garrido got up to third and David Parks jumped from seventh to fourth.

By lap three of 15 it was green flags all around again, and Romanek pulled away. Battles behind helped him maintain his gap, with Round-Garrido passing Kelly for second on lap five. Only a second covered second to fifth, and as Kelly reclaimed second on lap six there was a pass behind by McCaughan on Parks.

Two laps later McCaughan was past Round-Garrido, and he then cleared Kelly with five laps to go. Romanek’s lead dissapeared once McCaughan was in second, but it took a bit of side-by-side running before McCaughan could actually usurp the long-time leader. He then raced away, winning by a second over Kelly who passed Romanek on the last lap.

Round-Garrido and Dempsey were fighting over fourth, but the latter retired on the last lap and then post-race Round-Garrido was disqualified. That promoted Ammonite Motorsport’s Elliott Budzinski into fourth place.

Victory put McCaughan on pole for race two, but he was passed by Kelly, and then Romanek moved past both. The race was then red flagged after Ammonite’s Nolan Allaer went into a tyre barrier and the tyres dispersed across the track, and after the restart Romanek held a small lead until late on when Kelly passed him for the win.

McCaughan had ran in second as he passed Kelly following the restart, but lost the position and then sat behind the top two until the finish.

Dempsey took fourth from Budzinski late on, and Round-Garrido exited their battle as he retired.

Romanek finally converted his pace into victory in the reversed-grid race three to extend his points lead, beating McCaughan to the Ulster Trophy by 0.023s. Budzinski was just 0.209s behind in third, while Round-Garrido finished three laps down and Dempsey had another retirement.

Results round-up
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Brandon McCaughan Oldfield Motorsport 16m23.794s
2 Jordan Kelly Team Dolan +1.088s
3 Lucas Romanek Oldfield Motorsport +1.500s
4 Elliott Budzinski Ammonite Motorsport +7.332s
5 Ivor McCullough Team DDR +8.202s
6 Morgan Quinn Team Dolan +9.255s
7 David Parks Vertical Racing +14.932s
8 Nolan Allaer Ammonite Motorsport +16.258s
9 Jason Smyth +20.696s
10 Donal Downey +20.823s
Pole: Kelly, 1m01.733s
Fastest lap: McCaughan, 1m01.688s

Race 2 (9 laps)
1 Kelly 13m18.545s
2 Romanek +0.442s
3 McCaughan +0.526s
4 Jordan Dempsey +0.894s
5 Budzinski +1.207s
6 McCullough +1.347s
7 Alan Davidson +2.911s
8 Smyth +6.276s
9 Quinn +8.774s
10 Trevor Delaney +9.274s
FL: Dempsey, 1m01.841s

Race 3 (16 laps)
1 Romanek 16m59.144s
2 McCaughan +0.023s
3 Budzinski +0.209s
4 Kelly +1.737s
5 McCullough +3.631s
6 Davidson +6.999s
7 Allaer +9.910s
8 Delaney +13.388s
9 Nathan Yu Team Dolan +24.996s
10 Philip Harris +25.176s
FL: McCaughan, 1m01.950s

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