Scott Pye recovering from his qualifying dramas at Zandvoort. Image by Jakob Ebrey Photography

After the drama of the Zandvoort rounds of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain, which provided two debutant race winners, the series swings into Wiltshire next weekend (19/20 Jun) for a double-header at Castle Combe.
With championship leader Scott Malvern’s advantage now stretched out to 43 points, the Jamun Racing team and its front-running driver, Australian Scott Pye, are hoping for an improvement in their fortunes at Combe.

For despite winning four of the season’s eight races, 20-year-old Pye has slipped to third in the championship standings, largely due to an electrical problem at Zandvoort last weekend. “The ignition switch, which costs around £3, failed on my first flying lap,” said a rueful Scott. To add insult to injury, he endured further problems this week in testing at Castle Combe.

“We’ve just finished testing there; we were going really well but unfortunately on my new-tyre run I tangled with another car – someone wasn’t checking their mirrors and turned in on me and took me out – so I missed the last three sessions of the day. It was going really well up to that point, though, and I’m feeling quite confident for next weekend and we’re looking to get a couple of poles and race wins.

“The big problem for me at the moment is the points deficit; we have the pace but our hopes have taken a bit of a whack. All we can do is to try our best and continue along the lines we have been and try to win some more races. I hope our luck turns around a little bit.”
Cliff Dempsey Racing driver Malvern has led the championship since round two at Oulton Park, even though the Essex racer’s Scholar-engined Ray has won only one race. Crucially the 21-year-old has finished off the podium only once and he’s the only driver in the entire field to have scored points in every race.

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