31 August 2010

A bad weekend for Josh with 2 DNFs at Snetterton.

After a mediocre qualifying, Rounds 16 and 17 of the Dunlop MSA formula Ford championship of Great Britain went from bad to worse for Josh Hill at Snetterton on Monday. Meanwhile Scott Pye closed the points gap on championship leader Scott Malvern with 2 wins at the Norfolk track. Round 16 saw Pye in a thrilling wheel-to-wheel, 16 lap battle with Antti Buri for the lead with Pye coming out on top by just half a second. Josh retired on lap 9 after battling his way up to fifth place.

Round 17 was officially declared wet and had to be restarted almost as soon as it began after Layac, Williams and Buri all hit trouble in the tricky conditions. Layac failed to get away from the formation grid after his car caught on fire, Williams stopped on track with electrical problems and Buri ran off the circuit. At the restart Bernstorff struggled away from pole and Pye capitalized and pulled out a good lead. Cammish passed Bernstorff for second place on lap 3 but try as he might Cammish was unable to pass Pye. Scott Malvern minimized the damage caused by Pye's dominance by taking third place. Josh Hill spun at the Esses on lap 9.

Labels: Antti Buri, Joshua Hill, Snetterton, Formula Ford, Scott Pye, Scott Malvern,

Posted by Mike at 31/08/2010.

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29 August 2010

Josh qualifies in 9th place for this weekend's rounds of the Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain.

Emil Bernstorff snatched pole position for Monday's rounds of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain today by just four hundreths of a second ahead of Scott Pye at Snetterton. Championship leader Scott Malvern qualified in fifth place with Joshua Hill in ninth place. Rounds 16 and 17 take place at Snetterton in Norfolk on Monday 30^th August.

Labels: Emil Bernstorff, Joshua Hill, Snetterton, Formula Ford, Scott Pye, Scott Malvern,

Posted by Mike at 29/08/2010.

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15 August 2010

2 podium finishes and a win for Josh Hill at Silverstone in rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain.

Round 13 and Josh had a front row start in second place behind team-mate Scott Pye. A slow start by Pye allowed third placed starter Daniel Cammish to steal the lead. Forced wide at Stowe corner Cammish lost the lead then several more places at Abbey as he tried to avoid an incident involving team mate Tio Ellinas and another car. Cammish lost his mirrors in the accident but rejoined in eighth place.

Meanwhile Pye and Malvern made the most of the chaos to streak ahead into the lead. On lap eight Malvern's car developed a problem and he lost speed allowing Pye to take his seventh win of the season comfortably. He was followed home by Malvern then Josh Hill. Hill fought past Cammish who'd recovered to third place and passed him on the last lap. "Because my mirrors were gone I had no idea where Josh was," said Dan. "I was hoping to stay ahead but he got me." Cook finished fifth, Tucker sixth and Ellinas seventh. Antti Buri struggled to ninth with a car set up for the wet after gambling on a wet race that didn't happen and a broken hand.

Round 14 on Sunday saw another Jamun Racing Mygale front row lock out, again Pye edged Hill to pole position and again Pye made a slow start allowing Hill to take the lead. Pye fought back at Club but Malvern passed both of them to take the lead at Bridge. Cammish passed Ellinas to take third at the start and then retook third later on by passing Pye.

Malvern started to build up a gap to the chasing pack but this quickly vanished when the safety car came out after a collision between Layac and van der Walt left debris on the track. Four laps later the race was re-started leaving just one racing lap left. Malvern got the jump on Hill who had to defend from Cammish and they finished in that order.

Malvern took his first win in ten races whilst Hill was disappointed with his last lap, saying "I screwed up the restart a bit and although I managed to get back on to Scott towards the end of the lap I just wasn't close enough." Scott Pye finished fourth ahead of Ellinas, Antti Buri and Jake Cook.

Round 15 saw a five-way battle for the lead after pole-sitter Josh Hill lead away with Pye, Cammish and Ellinas chasing hard. Bernstorff joined the fray after a two lap safety car period dashed Hill's hopes of  building a gap to his pursuers as marshalls cleared up after a clash between Williams and Jaffer. Hill kept the lead at the restart but Cammish passed him on the next lap soon after passing Pye. Hill regained the lead at Copse on lap seven and began to pull away from the pack, eventually building a 4.8 second gap to second place. Pye and Malvern clashed on the last lap and Pye held on to second as Bernstorff nipped up into third in the confusion and claimed his first British Formula Ford podium.

Josh, who's father, F1 World Champion Damon Hill, is president of Silverstone's owners the BRDC said "I have a good track record here, and it's an absolute joy to win at Silverstone. It's something every driver needs to have in their CV."

Labels: Scott Malvern, Scott Pye, Formula Ford, Silverstone, Joshua Hill, Antti Buri, Emil Bernstorff,

Posted by Mike at 15/08/2010.

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19 July 2010

Two out of two for Tio Ellinas as he takes his maiden FF win.

Tio Ellinas had dream weekend at Rockingham, starting from pole position in rounds 11 and 12 and converting both poles to wins. Round 11 was Tio's maiden Formula Ford win, leading home Antti Buri by over 4 seconds. Tio also set the fastest lap and circuit lap record.

"I'm really happy to have won. I was trying to do every lap like a qualifying lap to have a good gap. I pushed to the limit and managed to get a good advantage so I could focus ahead instead of having to look in my mirrors. It's been a perfect weekend so far, hopefully we can do the same tomorrow." said Tio. Josh Hill came home in eighth place after qualifying eighth.

In round 12 Tio again lead Burti home, this time with a margin of over 5 seconds. Josh qualified and finished in seventh place. Tio summed up his weekend: 

"It's been such a perfect weekend, from the beginning everything went well but to win both races is incredible. On Saturday we had an easier race, today Scott Pye was pushing me to the limit and my car was not so good during the first part, but I just concentrated on putting in some quick laps."

"I was able to pull out a gap towards the end of the race though and the car was really good in the last few laps. I want to thank my team, JTR, for doing such a great job and for giving me a great car all weekend. We have a lot of confidence now for Silverstone, hopefully we can do well there."

Labels: Formula Ford, Rockingham, Antti Buri, Tio Ellinas, Josh Hill,

Posted by Mike at 19/07/2010.

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28 June 2010

Apologies for the late posting of this report! Josh takes a double podium at Castle Combe on the 19th and 20th June 2010 in rounds 9 and 10 of the MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain.

Round 9 saw Josh start second on the grid behind Scott Pye who wheelspinned badly at the start but still managed to lead into the first corner chased by Josh and Daniel Cammish. Third placed starter Emil Bernstorff had a poor start and slipped down to tenth on the opening lap. Scott Malvern's fuel pick-up problems that dogged his qualifying session seemed to disappear as he moved from seventh to fourth on lap one. Meanwhile Mark Harper's Mygale could take the strain no longer and Harper was forced to retire and dropped oil all over Quarry Corner. Hill and Cammish both slipped on the oil and Hill fell down to fourth place whilst Cammish struggled to maintain third. Scott Malvern pounced on the two struggling drivers and moved up into second place. Pye's lead by now was 1.4 seconds and Malvern was unable to close up and Pye stretched the lead to 4 seconds by the chequered flag. Hill managd to pass Cammish and held off Antti Buri as Cammish struggled with a brake problem and slipped down the order.

Pye and Hill started round ten in first and second place respectively, made a good start and brought home a Jamun 1-2. Team mate Emil Bernstorff made a poor start and fell back. The race was red flagged when Chrissy Palmer's car ended up in the tyre wall at Tower Corner and proved extremely tricky to dislodge. Palmer suffered a few bruises but was otherwise unhurt. The race was restarted with 5 laps to go and Pye and Hill nailed the restart and held on to bag the top two steps of the podium. Scott Malvern had an attempt at passing Hill but settled for the final podium place. After the race Josh said "I was able to cope a lot better with the track conditions in that race, so I'm happy."

Labels: Formula Ford, Castle Combe, Mark Harper, Scott Pye, Scott Malvern, Josh Hill, Emil Bernstorff,

Posted by Mike at 28/06/2010.

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