Oldfields thrilled with Brands win
SOUTHPORT based Oldfield Motorsport had a weekend they will never forget at Brands Hatch for the 47th running of the Formula Ford Festival.
Over the decades the Formula Ford Festival served as a key career stepping stone for aspiring F1 hopefuls including Jenson Button, Mark Webber, and Johnny Herbert.
Fast forward to 2018 and the winner of the event would book themselves a ticket to America to compete in the Road to Indy programme, a scholarship set up to take the world’s most promising drivers through to IndyCar (America’s own Formula 1).
Oldfield Motorsport have been blessed with success at the event previously, three podiums from four attempts, but the win had evaded them.
That all changed with their driver Josh Smith, a former World Junior Kart Champion, took the victory.
It was far from straight forward as Josh had to beat more than 70 drivers to the victory through a series of qualification races to reach the all important final.
Having started third on the grid, a titanic battle followed with the 2018 British Champion Niall Murray.
Niall led onto the last lap, but Josh stunned the onlooking crowd to take the lead with two corners to go to win the race by less than a tenth of a second.
With backing from Southport based Oldfields Autos and SiB Insurance the team has now firmly established itself as one of the leading outfits in the UK.
Team Principle James Oldfield was clearly ecstatic with the win. He said: “Its not an understatement to say its been a lifelong dream of winning the Festival.
This result is testament to the hard work put in by everyone in the team and our local sponsors. Josh drove a faultless race and he richly deserves his opportunity to go to America and secure a scholarship to become a professional racing driver.
We are all very proud of him and his family.