22/07/2010 - Rock is a Mountain to Climb
The Juno Formula Ford cars had an eventful and frustrating weekend for Rounds 11 and 12 of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain.
Following on from the drama of Castle Combe the Juno team worked tirelessly to build a new chassis to replace the car destroyed in the race stopping shunt for Chrissy Palmer. The team unveiled a new colour scheme and car for testing at the Rockingham Motor Speedway, thanks to a superb job by Road and Race Restorations in Little Hutton, Lancashire.
Following Jake Green’s departure from the team, Chrissy was all set to continue his driving in the JA2010 car, but Doctor’s orders kept him on the sidelines for one more week, Chrissy will be back at Silverstone, the next races of the championship firing on all cylinders!
This left the Juno team and Century Motorsport driverless and 2006 Formula Ford Champion, and Century Team Principal Nathan Freke stepped into the breach at short notice.
Testing became a shakedown for the new car, with Starter Motor issues delaying the teams progress. Luke Williams was again out in his JA09 to compete in the Scholarship class, but he too experienced issues, with set up problems, which cut short his sessions.
Both cars lined up for an overcast and windy Qualifying session, and while both drivers reported a low grip circuit both posted respectable times to line up 12th and 14th. 12th position is not quite where Nathan’s undoubted talent should be, but for the lack of track time and in an unfamiliar car it was very impressive. Luke’s 14th place also secured him Pole Position in the scholarship class and an extra point for his championship quest.
Saturday’s Race One was again incident packed classic Formula Ford Racing. Nathan made a superb start to move up the field but a small error at the Deene hairpin cost him some places and dropped him down the order, he woule overtake a few cars and finish just 0.1s off the top ten setting competitve times relative to the championship contenders along the way.
The Deene hairpin was the sight of Luke Williams retirement from the race. After a solid start and holding a comfortable lead in the Scholarship class his race was ended by an out of control Mark Harper, who arrived backwards and swiped out the Juno. It was such dispapointment for the team and the Thirsk driver, who looked set to record his 5th win of the year.
For Race Two on Sunday the team took a different approach and used the race as some valuable testing for new set up work. With significant changes to their cars both Luke and Nathan raced hard in the pack to record a solid double finish in an uneventful race. The set up changes had made the cars tricky to control, but both drivers used their skills to drive them home finishing in 11th and 13th, with Luke securing the second step on the Scholarship podium.
After the frustration of Rockingham the team now looks forward to some tetsing and development of new parts and will be working closely with Century Motorsport and driver Nathan Freke to move the car forward in preparation for the second half of the season, starting at Silverstone on the 14th/15th August, where Luke Williams will look to regain the lead in the Scholarship class and the team will welcome back 2009 Formula Ford Festival Champion Chrissy Palmer.
