35 FEWTRELL WINS BRITISH F4 TITLE
WHEN: OCTOBER 2 WHERE: BRANDS HATCH
A knock-on effect of the British F3 name change was that Jonathan Palmer relinquished the naming rights of the F4 title in the UK. So finally Britain’s FIA F4 championship could have its proper name rather than the meaningless MSA Formula.
Carlin’s Max Fewtrell became the first champion of the latest incarnation of the ex-british Formula Ford category, but he had to fight hard for it.
His consistent approach paid dividends, despite him only taking three wins all season, while many of his key rivals enjoyed wildly contrasting fortunes one week to the next. An accomplished victory in the finale secured Fewtrell the crown with third place not enough for JHR Developments racer Sennan Fielding to triumph. Luis Leeds, James Pull, Devlin Defrancesco and Alex Quinn all went into the Brands Hatch finale still in mathematical contention after an incredibly competitive season that featured 10 different race winners. SL
WHEN: MAY 4 WHERE: A FOREST IN FINLAND
Finally! The text message our world had been waiting for. It consisted of just two words: “Got them.”
After days of chasing, a Finn had found his prey. The last week of April had become the first week in May, but there it was running before him. Barking and growling its way between the trees, a distinctive black and white coat did little to disguise it in its natural habitat – but it did mask the sort of body sculpting detail we would start to chase in days to come.
But for now, Toyota’s Yaris WRC had landed. Again. You might remember a similar machine coming out of Cologne two years earlier – best not talk about that one…
The importance attached to the return of the world’s biggest car manufacturer to the WRC cannot be overstated. That it comes with the direct blessing of president and CEO of Akio Toyoda is even better. DE
If you’re squeamish at the thought of period racing cars taking a beating, you’d best look away now.
The Goodwood Members’ Meeting is known for being a spectator-friendly, easy-going event to kick the circuit’s season off – but the 74th edition was marred by two particularly horrific accidents. The chaos started in Sunday’s opening race, when the Lotus 18 of Stephen Bond was pitched into the air, over the safety barriers and into a pedestrian tunnel on the pit straight after contact with Richard Wilson’s Cooper. Later in the day, Michiel Smits had to be airlifted to hospital after going off at Woodcote Corner in his Lola T70 Spyder. Thankfully, both drivers escaped serious long-term injuries, and no spectators were hurt.
For Bond, the accident was enough for him to call time on racing singleseaters – although he did return to the cockpit for the first time since his accident in a Lister-bristol sportscar at Silverstone in August. JC