A grid of 18 cars will participate in this weekend’s BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 season opener on Silverstone’s International layout.
B-M Racing’s FFord Festival winner Jamie Sharp is the highest place full-season returnee from 2021, having finished fifth in the standings, while Kevin Mills Racing’s GB4-bound Tom Mills is part of its line-up for round one to gain circuit experience.
A five-car line-up will be fielded by B-M at Silverstone, although several of its entries are only part-timers. Dave McArthur will appear at Croft and at least two other rounds, while W Series race-winner Megan Gilkes, 10th in National FF1600 last year, moves across from KMR and plans do most of the season but will be missing a couple of rounds.
Rory Smith, the 2020 Festival winner, will contest select rounds, while Sammarinese racer Davide Meloni will be Sharp’s full-time team-mate. Meloni raced in National FF1600 in 2018 and ’19, but travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic meant he couldn’t compete the past two years.
In addition to the already announced line-ups at Team Dolan and the rebranded Ammonite Motorsport (formerly Low Dempsey Racing), there are two-car line-ups at KMR and Oldfield Motorsport.
Reigning Northern Irish FF1600 champion, 2019 Walter Hayes Trophy winner and 2018 Chinese Formula 4 champion Jordan Dempsey will contest the full National campaign with KMR, while Oldfield retains its Champion of Brands race-winner Lucas Romanek and signs Northern Irish teenager Brandon McCaughan who starred as a rookie in NI FF1600 last year and then at the WHT won the Janet Cesar Memorial Trophy for pre-1993 cars and made the overall final in a 32-year-old Mondiale.
The entry list for this weekend is completed by Andy Powell Racing’s Murray Shepherd, who raced a FF2000 car in Classic Formula 3 last year, and Welsh privateer Tom Nippers.
A single free practice session took place on Friday, with qualifying and race one occurring on Saturday at 9:30am and midday and race two running on Sunday at 11:15am.
Silverstone entry list
| Team | No | Driver | Driver | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Dolan | #88 | Morgan Quinn | Van Diemen RF99 | 12th in FFord Festival |
| #33 | Ben Cochran | Van Diemen RF09 | 13th in National FF1600 | |
| #48 | Gabe Tesch | Van Diemen LA10 | Senior karting | |
| Kevin Mills Racing | #3 | Jordan Dempsey | Spectrum 011C | Northern Irish FF1600 champion |
| #121 | Tom Mills | Spectrum 011C | 4th in National FF1600 | |
| Ammonite Motorsport | #62 | Colin Queen | Ray GR18 | 8th in National FF1600 |
| #52 | Andre Lafond | Ray GR15 | 12th in National FF1600 | |
| #32 | Shawn Rashid | Ray GR18 | Races in Spec Racer Ford | |
| #145 | Brindley Kinch | Ray GR08 | 33rd in Castle Combe FF1600 | |
| B-M Racing | #89 | Jamie Sharp | Medina Sport JL17 | FFord Festival winner |
| #45 | Rory Smith | Medina Sport JL18 | 6th in National FF1600 | |
| #15 | David McArthur | Medina Sport BH19 | 12th in Walter Hayes Trophy | |
| #21 | Davide Meloni | Medina Sport BH22 | No racing | |
| #64 | Megan Gilkes | Medina Sport BH20 | 10th in National FF1600 | |
| Oldfield Motorsport | #73 | Lucas Romanek | Van Diemen JL13 | 6th in Walter Hayes Trophy |
| #69 | Brandon McCaughan | Van Diemen JL13 | 4th in NI FF1600 | |
| Andy Powell Racing | #26 | Murray Shepherd | Medina Sport | Classic F3 class D champion |
| privateer | #189 | Tom Nippers | Van Diemen RF01 |