THE NORTH AMERICAN FF1600 INVASION
With five season-long entries, North Americans were already well represented in National Formula Ford this year. But their ranks were swelled further last weekend at Snetterton by newcomers Andre Castro and Jeremy Fairbairn.
Castro was recently named alongside fellow New Yorker Max Esterson in the Team USA Scholarship programme for this year’s Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy. The pair were chosen following a rigorous selection process that included a two-day shootout between six finalists at the Polecat training circuit in Tennessee in August.
While Esterson – like 2020 scholar Bryce Aron before him – has spent the season in Britain competing at the sharp end of the National Championship, a lack of budget had restricted Castro to a trio of outings in USF2000 and a part campaign in F1600. The 22-year-old joined up with regular scholarship partner Low Dempsey Racing at Snetterton to get acclimatised ahead of the prestigious end-of-season events, and qualified 14th of 17 entries before finishing eighth in Sunday’s wet race.
“It’s a bit more challenging than I anticipated,” admitted Castro. “In the first race, we found a lot of pace from myself – I just had to change a little bit my technique and get used to the car.
“[Being selected] is exciting for me and it’s good for my career because of the weight [the scholarship] carries in the US, especially in Indycar and even sportscars. A lot of professional drivers have come through the programme.
It’s definitely prestigious and I’m really honoured to be a part of it.”
Also joining the regular runners ahead of an assault on the Festival and Hayes was 17-year-old Floridian Fairbairn, who joined Phil Wills’s PWR1 Racing squad in the Van Diemen chassis previously used by Max Marzorati. With Colin Queen and Andre Lafond already ensconced alongside Esterson at LDR, plus Californian Carter Williams and Megan Gilkes from Toronto completing their seasons at Oldfield Motorsport and Kevin Mills
Racing respectively, North American accents abounded in the paddock.
“Coming here, you get a lot more track time,” explained Fairbairn, who had a part-season in US Formula 4 last year. “A lot more practice, racecraft, that was really what interested me. This opens my eyes to wanting to do a lot more races in Europe because of the competition here.”
Next stop for the North American contingent is the Festival in a fortnight’s time at Brands Hatch, a track Castro has some experience of from his season in the NASCAR Euro Series in 2019, before the Hayes at Silverstone a week later. Previous Team USA scholars have a strong record in the events, although it is nearly a decade since Tristan Nunez added to earlier successes for Josef Newgarden, Conor Daly and Connor De Phillippi.
“The goal is to win the Festival and the Hayes, so we’ve got our work cut out,” admitted Esterson who, after finishing third in the National Championship, hopes to remain on these shores and graduate to GB3 next year.