Murray to defend Walter Hayes crown

NIALL MURRAY WILL RETURN TO FORMULA

Ford action this weekend to defend his Walter Hayes Trophy success from 12 months ago.

The 22-year-old will contest the annual Silverstone event aboard a Van Diemen LA10 that he has already used to take the Northern Ireland Formula Ford championship this season.

“As the reigning winner of course you want to go on and defend the crown,” said Murray, who dominated last year’s event in torrential rain.

“If I win it this year, I would probably try and do it next year for the hat-trick.

“Of course, you need a lot of luck. With the amount of entries there’s a big chance of something going wrong. If it goes wrong in the heats, you’ve more or less got very little chance [of winning].

“Just with the nature of Silverstone there’s a big chance of drivers 0.5 seconds off the pace being up there and causing an accident, which has happened to me before and is frustrating.”

Murray will headline a bumper entry of more than 100 cars, including 2014 Formula Ford Festival winner James Raven, who will drive the Ray GR09 used by Neil Maclennan this season.

“It’s definitely unfinished business,” said Raven. “Last year I got taken out in the heat, and the year before we were at the front but we were taken out in the final. Luck has always evaded me there. We’ve always been in the top three or top five at least, in terms of times. You need luck at the big events.”

Other leading Formula Ford drivers taking part include 2014 National FF1600 champion Stuart Gough – who will race a Kevin Mills Spectrum – and 2017 Brands Hatch Festival winner Joey Foster.