MCCORMACK FINISHES RUNNER-UP YET AGAIN
Three times a runner-up on a different rung of the Caterham motorsport ladder, Irish driver Jay Mccormack arrived at Brands Hatch having accrued most points in the Caterham 7 310R Championship. He was the bridesmaid again, though, with Gordon Sawyer – who won more races than anyone in 2019 – taking the crown, having finished second last year.
Mccormack’s introduction to racing came by way of an argument in a pub which resulted in him entering the 2016 Caterham Academy.
“When I came into it I had a target to get on the podium and I won the first race so I kind of blew that out of the window,” said the Dubliner.
He lost the Academy White group title to Ben Gillias that season, before losing out to Pete Walters in Roadsports in 2017 and Jamie Falvey in the 270Rs last term.
“I have been in this position for the last three years, coming into the final round with a chance of winning but it hasn’t worked out,” he explained. “They have gone down to the last race in one or two of them, where it was whoever finished in front of each other, but I am due a bit of luck.”
The weekend started strongly for Mccormack, who claimed pole for the opening race, with his main rival Sawyer only fifth, and outsider Tom Grensinger back on row 12.
Mccormack led from pole but Sawyer blasted through from row three to take second place immediately, although he gradually got shuffled further back in the lead pack. Mccormack spent much of the race battling with Walters, his 2017 nemesis, the pair exchanging the lead numerous times along the Brabham Straight.
Grensinger, meanwhile, had raced through the pack and he passed Sawyer for third into Paddock with two laps remaining. As Sawyer tried to retaliate at Graham Hill Bend he went wide, ending the race fifth on the road – promoted to fourth when Andrew Perry was penalised. Meanwhile, Mccormack fended off Walters for a vital win.
At first things looked rosy for Mccormack in Sunday’s decisive race, as he took the early lead and Sawyer initially dropped back. Having regained third, Sawyer lost four places by running wide at Mclaren on lap four. Mccormack was then third, behind the non-scoring Christian Szaruta and Walters – a scenario that would have given him the title.
Almost immediately, his championship bid disintegrated as he skated onto the wet grass on lap six, dropping outside the top 10. “I was coming down to Graham Hill Bend and I got a bit of oversteer and the wheel went out onto the grass, and that was it, I was a passenger,” he said.
A late safety car closed the pack, but there was only one racing lap at the resumption – not enough for Mccormack to salvage the points he needed for the title. He took seventh on the road, with Sawyer fifth, and Szaruta the win from Walters.
“I am disappointed, especially when it is my own fault,” said the four-time championship runner-up, who nevertheless plans to step up to the premier Caterham 420R category for 2020.