MURRAY TO CONTEST 2017 WALTER HAYES
Former winner will look to make it two on the bounce
Niall Murray will return to Formula Ford action this weekend to try and defend his Walter Hayes Trophy triumph from 12 months ago.
The 22-year-old will contest the annual Silverstone event aboard a Van Diemen LA10 which 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.
“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 half-a-second off the pace, they might be up there and cause an accident which has happened to me before and is frustrating.”
Murray will headline a bumper entry of more than 100 cars, including James Raven – winner of the Formula Ford Festival in 2014 – 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 high-profile names include 2014 National Formula Ford champion Stuart Gough – who will race a Kevin Mills Spectrum – and the 2017 Festival winner, Joey Foster.
The event will consist of six heats, a progression and last chance race and two semi finals before the grand final on Silverstone’s National layout.