Driver Database News

Just when you thought Scott Malvern’s highly successful motor racing season couldn’t get any better the Barkingside young rising star has topped it off by winning the highly prestigious Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. The Festival enjoying its 40th anniversary this year has a list of illustrious past winners including Mark Webber, Jenson Button and Johnny Herbert.

The triumph means that Scott has enjoyed a clean sweep of all the major motor racing honours available to him this season adding to the already won Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain and the Formula Ford Euro-Cup.

Although he faced stiff competition at Brands Hatch with top drivers entered not just from the UK but from all over the world including Australia, Finland & USA, Scott was always in command through the event qualifying in pole position for his group and then going on to win his heat, quarter final, semi-final and final races to take the overall victory. Scott delighted afterwards said “I came to this event as a very young mechanic in 2008 working for Australian driver Tim Blanchard and thought to myself that I’d love to come back and win it myself. Little did I imagine that three years later I would do just that”
Scott’s busy season isn’t over just yet though. He has been hired as the development driver for the new Formula Ford ECO Boost race car and will be taking part in several test days in the coming weeks. He will also line up for the 2nd consecutive year as one of the six finalists for the McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award. This is the top award in British Motorsport and brings with it a prize of a McLaren Formula One test and £100,000 towards next season’s race budget.

Scott will also be returning to his karting roots this week on Thursday 20th October when he joins a number of top British motor racing stars to compete in the Henry Surtees Foundation benefit event at Buckmore Park Kart circuit in Kent. Henry was the late son of multiple motorcycle and Formula One World Champion John Surtees who lost his life in a tragic accident in 2009.

Post Script
Late last night we received the tragic news that British Motor Racing Star Dan Wheldon had tragically lost his life in a race accident in Las Vegas. Dan was one of the drivers who proved to be a real inspiration for Scott’s career and he is deeply saddened to learn of his premature death. Dan’s achievements in twice winning the Indy 500, arguably the most famous motor race in the world, and the Indy-Car Championship place him among the all-time greats. It is tragic that his death should come at a time when his career was undergoing a real resurgence after a difficult couple of years. Scott & his family would like to extend their deepest sympathy to all of Dan’s family & friends.

2011 Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Champion of Great Britain and Euro-Cup winner Scott Malvern has been nominated as one of six finalists for the highly prestigious McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award.

Scott’s utter domination of the 2011 Formula Ford season, which has seen him take 21 victories from 26 race starts so far, made him a strong candidate as a finalist for the 2nd successive year.

When told of the news Scott commented “I’m naturally delighted. This vindicates what was seen by many to be a risky strategy in returning to Formula Ford this season having had such a brilliant 2010. If I hadn’t dominated this category in my 2nd season here I would have been thought of as a failure. I’ve done the job I set out to do. It was in the back of my mind that I could earn a 2nd crack at the award but I never ever take anything for granted. A big thank you to the judges for selecting me and a massive thank you to the Jamun Racing Team and all of my supporters for helping to get me here. I am really looking forward to the competition and intend to enjoy every second of it!”

Scott and the other five finalists will be assessed in a test at Silverstone in November by a panel of judges. The panel includes former Formula 1 racer, World Sportscar Champion and BRDC president Derek Warwick, two-time BTCC champion Jason Plato, DTM ace Jamie Green, McLaren head of vehicle engineering Mark Williams, renowned motorsports commentator Ian Titchmarsh, and AUTOSPORT journalists Kevin Turner and Marcus Pye.

Further news on this story can be found here: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95074

Scott Malvern clinched the 2011 Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship in style at Donington Park on Sunday (25th Sept) with an impressive lights to flag victory, his 21st of the season, to add to the Euro Cup title he had already claimed in August. It’s been a record breaking season for the young Barkingside driver and he will he have further opportunities to add to his victory total if he elects to compete in the final three rounds of the British Championship in two weeks time on the Grand Prix circuit at Silverstone and in the Formula Ford World Festival at Brands Hatch the following weekend.

Malvern paid a massive tribute to his Jamun Racing Team and all his supporters after another highly impressive weekend. “This wouldn’t have been possible without the great car that Jamun Racing have provided me with every race weekend and the fantastic help that we receive from all our partners and supporters. I hope everyone is giving themselves a massive pat on the back for what they’ve helped us to do this year” Malvern hopes that the title will help him to progress his career as a professional racing driver. “When you look at who has won this championship in the past; names like Ayrton Senna & Jenson Button you realise that you are part of that history now and look at what they went onto achieve. I just hope that this will put us on a lot of people’s radar. They know what I am capable of and I that am ready to move on”

Malvern is as yet unsure as where he will be able to move onto for 2012. “Obviously there is still a lot of hard work to be done but given the opportunity I’d like to step up to Formula 3, GP3 or Formula 2. I am confident that I have the tools and the mindset to do a great job!”

more detailed reports of Scott’s weekend races (24-25th Sept) at Donington Park can be found here:

http://www.britishformulaford.co.uk/news/2011/250911.htm

http://www.britishformulaford.co.uk/news/2011/240911.htm

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.

While British Motor Racing fans hoped for home success at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, one young UK driver achieved success abroad. Barkingside’s Scott Malvern took a brilliant and hard fought victory at the legendary Spa circuit in Belgium. But Scott suffered a nightmare start to the weekend on Friday when he suffered gearbox failure as he exited the pits for qualifying. He struggled round to complete three qualifying laps at speed which were only good enough to give him 14th, 16th & 21st (last) grid positions for the weekend’s three races. But undeterred he put an amazing master display of overtaking to take victory in races one and three and was only narrowly denied a win in race two by just thousandth’s of a second in a photo finish with winner Australian Geoff Uhrhane. Uhrhane who led the race when Scott made it through the pack to 2nd place, held a six second advantage but Scott reeled him in at a rate of knots to produce a nail biting finish.

He also pulled off the overtaking move of the weekend against Uhrhane in race one taking the lead from him at the ultra fast Eau Rouge bend and set a new lap record in race three in his quest to claim the overall Euro-Cup title for the weekend. The two victories take Scott’s win tally for the season to 12 wins from 15 races.

Scott also leads the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford championship of Great Britain at the half way stage of the season having won 10 of the 12 rounds held so far.

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.

Scott Malvern secured his third excessive clean sweep and made it nine consecutive race victories with an impressive display on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit this weekend. But twice he was faced with having to restart a race when red flags were deployed in both races one & three due to a heavy downpour and cars losing control and spinning off the track.

As the 26 car grid set off on the green flag lap it began to rain. With all the cars shod with slick tyres for dry running conditions were very trick but Scott pulled clear of the field to pull out a substantial advantage until the cars of 2nd placed Geoff Uhrhane and championship leader Jeroen Slaghekke spun off into the gravel at Clearways corner. The race was red flagged and all the drivers pitted to change for wet treaded tyres. At the restart Malvern pulled clear of Finnish Champion Antti Buri to win by over 4 seconds.

Race two, later on Saturday afternoon was run in dry and sunny conditions and Malvern on pole was beaten into 2nd into the first corner by 2nd placed Uhrhane. But Malvern subjected Uhrhane to relentless pressure and eventually capitalized on a small mistake by his Australian rival to pass him at Westfield corner. It was now the turn of Uhrhane to place Malvern under heavy pressure but the Barkingside racer stood firm and positioned his car inch perfect every lap to resist Uhrhane’s attention and take a 2nd win of the day.
Race three was almost a carbon copy of the weather conditions of race one with a heavy downpour bringing out the red flags early in the race. Malvern had built a substantial lead over team mate Nick McBride when the race was stopped with cars again stranded in the gravel at Clearways. All the cars changed to wet weather tyres and once again Malvern nailed the start to pull a comfortable gap and take the win in the shortened restarted race.

So Malvern boosted his win tally to ten from twelve races and also achieved a ninth consecutive race victory. Malvern now leads the championship and has a firm eye cast at the record number of race victories in a season which stands at 14 by Callum McLeod in 2007. With only half the scheduled 24 races completed he is well on course to achieve his target but concedes that the biggest threat to him not realising this is if he cannot raise the funds t complete his 2011 campaign. “It was really touch & go to make it to Brands Hatch this weekend and we only just managed to put something together at the last minute. It would be a real tragedy if we were unable to continue with great results like this.”

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.

Jamun Racing Star Scott Malvern became the first driver of the Duratec era to achieve a perfect maximum score at the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain Easter event at Oulton Park.

Malvern set the three fastest laps in qualifying giving him pole position for rounds four, five & six of the championship. He then went on take lights to flag victories in all three rounds and recorded the fastest lap in each race as well giving him a maximum score available to him for the weekend.

A check in the results archive proved that this had not been done before, the closest to it being another Jamun driver Wayne Boyd in his championship winning year 2008 taking three wins at Knockhill but only two poles and two fastest laps. His perfect record that weekend was spoilt by his Jamun team mate Tim Blanchard who had fastest lap in race two and pole position for race three. Ironically Blanchard’s mechanic that season was a nineteen year old Scott Malvern!

Scott delighted with his Oulton park results commented “obviously Silverstone could have been better but I didn’t dwell on what might have been. I simply refocused my attention to Oulton Park determined to put things right and thanks to the hard work of the team and my partners for getting me here that’s exactly what I did. I’m now firmly back on track and aim to stay there”

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.

Barkingside Racer Scott Malvern stormed back into title contention at Oulton Park in Cheshire last weekend dominating proceedings in the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain. Malvern achieved the perfect score in the three championship rounds held on Saturday & Bank Holiday Monday taking three wins from three pole positions and fastest lap in every race in a superb master class display. Not only that but he was never headed in each of the races and achieved impressive winning margins of almost three seconds, seven seconds and six seconds respectively in the 20 car International field.

Malvern has now rocketed up the championship table form a lowly 12th position to 2nd place cutting by half the points advantage held by his Jamun Racing Team mate the Dutch driver Jeroen Slaghekke. Scott delighted with his results commented afterwards “I needed a strong performance after our problems at Silverstone two weeks ago and this has put me right back on track. I’d just like to thank all my partners who helped me to be here”.

Scott’s championship bid now moves onto Snetterton in Norfolk over the weekend of 14th & 15th May.

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.

The present 2011 New Zealand Formula Ford Championship leader, Andre Heimgartner, today took his first ride onboard the Team BRM prepared, Mygale SJ09A, ahead of Round 1 of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at the Clipsal 500 on the streets of Adelaide next week, March 17-20.

Heimgartner, 15, will fill the seat, vacated by Josh Burdon who was originally entered in the #31 car, racing alongside South Australian, Tom Goess. This will also be Andre’s first attempt at the Australian Championship, yet it won’t be his first drive on Aussie soil after competing with the Evans Motorsport Group in the Victorian
Formula Ford Championship in 2010.

Mallala Motorsport Park was today the scene of Andre’s initiation into the Team BRM stable. Being the only Formula Ford at the test day, it gave him a true opportunity to flex his talent, and display what he as to offer as one of the young stars of motorsport.

With Heimgartner able to blitz the time sheets in his first test, it has established a firm foundation ahead of the Clipsal event in a little over a week. Andre was ecstatic at his opening test, saying at the end, “I am truly happy not only with the car speed, but the professionalism of Team BRM, and this early pace will set me up well for Clipsal.

Andre was able to lap the 2.6km South Australian circuit in a time of 1:11.3 by the days completion, which is said to be 5 tenths quicker than drivers in the past. Team BRM Team Principal, Mark Rundle said following the test, “We are really pleased at the fantastic effort of Andre in his first practice, with poor conditions, the times eclipsed anything first expected”, Rundle further went on to say, “He (Andre) was quicker than anyone had ever been in the past, in the same position, and with him being so comfortable with the car and team, we are confident of a strong result at the Clipsal”

This weekend, will also see Heimgartner battle it out in the decider for the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship, which, if won, will see him go down as the youngest ever winner of a Formula Ford Championship in the World.

The association between Andre and Team BRM is one that comes with strong history, as the last 3 New Zealand Formula Ford Champions have raced with the Adelaide based outfit.

While future rounds of the Australian Championship for Heimgartner are undecided at this stage, his sole aim is to gain strong results at the Clipsal 500, and to continue to improve his exposure and build on some already strong grounding as a 15 year old star and future champion of World Motorsport.

One round into the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship and already Dannemora, Auckland East, teenager Andre Heimgartner has picked up some pretty special silverware.

Andre made a brilliant start to the championship at Pukekohe this weekend, winning the prestigious Ron Frost Memorial Trophy and ending the round a close second on the championship point standings.

Fifteen-year-old Andre was in the thick of the typically close Formula Ford action from the beginning of proceedings. He looked assured of a front row grid position as qualifying came to a close only to be bumped to fourth on the grid but that would not hamper him at this venue where slipstreaming and passing is a common occurrence.

All three races were superb affairs with massive battles for the top placings. The opening race on Saturday afternoon saw Andre right amongst it. After what he described as an “average” start Andre was battling for the lead with Matt Williams and Tim Vickers. Just after the mid-point of the race Andre got a great draught down the front straight to pass Vickers. He then attempted to pass Williams around the outside into the fast sweeper. Unfortunately the effort saw Andre run wide and go onto the grass, dropping him to fifth place. Over the remainder of the race distance Andre managed to fight his way back to fourth place. During the course of the contest he set the fastest lap of the race.

The following morning Andre was again fourth on the grid for the second race of the round. The Mygale was running a tall first gear for the super fast Pukekohe circuit and consequently once again his start was not the best. However Andre was soon in a battle for second with Tim Vickers which lasted until Vickers lost control and spun. At that point a train of five cars caught the leaders and a massive dice developed with frequent positional changes. Andre managed to close in on leader Matt Williams and crossed the line in second place just 0.086 seconds behind the Cantabrian.

His efforts in the second race put Andre third on the grid for the finale – the Ron Frost Memorial Trophy Race – named after one of New Zealands most influential motor racing administrators. This was the feature race for the category over 12 laps and it was a fantastic spectacle. Andre said later he had never seen so much draughting since his Formula First days. Williams, Vickers and Andre traded the lead many times over the first nine laps and the crowd were loving it! Williams tried to outbrake Andre at the end of the main straight on two occasions and eventually he went off the track. That left Andre and Tim Vickers to battle it out on the final lap. Tim darted out of Andre’s slipstream on the run to the flag but the Mygale hung on to give Andre the win by 0.016 seconds!

Andre received the Ron Frost Memorial Trophy for winning the race, his name joining other illustrious winners such as Shane Van Gisbergen and Paul Radisich – fine company indeed. Andre was also on the podium for the overall round, placing second just three points behind Williams with team mate Stefan Webling in third place.

It was a very happy Andre Heimgartner who left Pukekohe on Sunday evening just three points behind Williams heading into Round 2 at Powerbuilt Tools Raceway at Ruapuna in Christchurch in three weeks time.

Andre’s efforts in the 2010/2011 New Zealand Formula Ford Championship are supported by Superlux, New Balance and Harmony Homes.

Photo by sportpromedia.com

Dani Domit had his first race meeting this weekend – of any kind – and came away with a podium and a fastest lap!

The Mexican driver is a novice and had no car or karting experience before early last summer when he decided to become a racing driver! While studying engineering at the University of Florida, he signed up for a two day Skip Barber school course and followed that with a three day one in August.

All fired up, he bought himself a shifter kart and hit the local track for open lapping sessions and some fun racing. The feedback he got from his Skip Barber coaches gave Dani the confidence he needed to sign up for Grand Prix Shootout and history was made!

With a late deal made with JTR to do the MSA British Formula Ford championship, Dani had done no testing at all prior to arriving at Oulton Park for the race weekend.

A test was planned for the Wednesday which saw very little running due to rain, sleet and hailstones! The test on Friday was a bit better. Dani got some dry sessions in the morning and two wet ones in the afternoon.It wasn’t much but better than nothing and he looked forward to first qualifying session the next day.

Dani qualified second, third and third in the scholarship class only about three tenths off the pace.

In race one Dani ran very well and came second in the Scholarship class and so visited the podium for the first time! Race two was a bit disappointing as Dani found out how tough racing is. He spun on the second lap and another car hit him on the side damaging his radiator.

Race three was a mix of emotions. Dani was getting into his stride and feeling more comfortable when he clipped the tyres at the Knickerbrook chicane. His race was over but not before he had set the fastest lap in his class.

It was a very difficult way to start a racing career. Dani had to start as a novice from zero with a new car, team and circuit. Oulton Park is one of the most difficult tracks in the UK and can be very intimidating to newcomers – especially if they are novices!

However, Dani was lapping at the pace that the other Grand Prix Shootout winner, Tio Ellinas, was doing three weeks earlier on his first trip to Oulton Park. Tio was very impressive at the weekend and everyone hopes that Dani will too very soon.