BAKER’S ABSENCE ALLOWS CLARKE TO CLAIM THE CROWN
There were a few reasons to be unsure what to expect from the Ferrari Challenge UK in 2019. This was its inaugural season, becoming the only single-country Ferrari Challenge championship. It is also open to all UK Ferrari clients who own a 488 Challenge, and around half its field were racing novices.
Yet quickly there appeared clarity on the championship winner. Ex-ginetta GT4 Supercup and Lotus racer Jason Baker won the first four races of what was slated as an eight-race schedule, albeit with a consistently-close challenger in Jamie Clarke – formerly of Legends but who hadn’t raced much in the preceding 12 years – next home every time.
But at Croft, the third two-race meeting of four, things started to turn against Baker. First he tangled with a backmarker late in race one and was classified fourth, while Clarke bagged his first win. After that, race two was cancelled due to barrier damage.
Then at Silverstone’s final round
Baker missed the first race due to a wedding. And Clarke again took full points advantage with an imperious pole, fastest lap and victory, despite a lengthy safety car period. “We just did what we had to do,” Clarke said.
“It [now] all hangs on the last race.”
Indeed so, and it left Baker needing a perfect Sunday – pole, win and fastest lap – to pip Clarke to the title on countback. His task soon got even harder, as Clarke took the point for race two pole. “Coming straight into qualifying – Jamie had [done] the day before – was always going to be a tall order,” Baker noted. “I was pleased with my lap time, but it wasn’t enough.” Clarke meanwhile was delighted with his pace. “[I’ve] finally found my flow around here,” he said.
The track was wet for the deciding race, giving Baker hope of his required ‘mixed up’ result and in the race he attacked leader Clarke relentlessly. But it was for naught, as the pair checked out at the front as usual and Clarke – although waving Baker by and cruising home second would have been enough – remained resolute to seal the title in style, even amid further rainfall near the end.
“Delighted,” Clarke concluded,
“the whole weekend went as well as it possibly could. Jason gave me a real good run for my money today. That’s the last three races that we’ve won, so a real shift in momentum.”
Baker was generous in defeat. “It’s a shame having led the championship all year to not get it but that’s that,” he said. “[I had] a couple of opportunities to overtake but it would have been a real 50/50 move; the last thing I wanted to do is punt him off and win that way. I knew that it would have been tough to go away with the championship when losing a whole round.”
Wayne Marrs dominated Silverstone’s opening Ferrari Formula Classic race in his F355 Challenge. He didn’t last long in race two as his radiator failed, and fellow frontrunner Tris Simpson pitted his F355 at the end of the warm-up lap to investigate a smoky exhaust, caused by a kink in his oil return pipe and an overfill. The other habitual frontrunner, Tim Mogridge also in a F355, therefore cruised to victory. He also won race three, as Marrs and Simpson rose from the back to complete the podium.