Photo: BRSCC
The BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 championship will race in Northern Ireland next year for the first time since 2019.
A seven-round schedule has been released for the 2023 season, which will include races in three countries within the United Kingdom. However the return of Kirkistown in Northern Ireland comes at the expense of a Welsh round at Anglesey.
The season begins on April 22 with a return to Oulton Park, a venue that was a surprise omission from the 2022 season, and runs alongside the series now known as Super Classic Pre-’99 FF1600. It is not clear yet whether the two championships will run seperate races over the weekend or share grids.
Round two is at Snetterton on May 27/28, then Donington Park hosts round three on June 17/18. In the calendar reveal it was not mentioned which of the circuit’s layouts will be used.
The return to Kirkistown occurs on July 29, and it is believed to be on a day where the Northern Irish FF1600 championship will also be racing there, then it’s back to England to race at Brands Hatch on August 19/20. Although that too is without a circuit configuration next to its date, FF1600 usually only races on the Indy layout.
On September 9 the series heads to Knockhill in Scotland, in what could be the only FF1600 racing of the year at the track as the Scottish Motor Racing Club has not yet confirmed if Scottish FFord will be taking place in 2023 after a curtailed 2022 season that led to fears of a permanent demise for the long-running championship.
The season finale will be run on Silverstone’s National layout on September 30. This year the series ran on the International layout for the first time, but is switching back to its usual setting at the track.
There will be no Northern FFord championship in 2023, after the series’ evolution into SC Pre-’99 FF1600 that happened during this year. After its Oulton Park season opener, it will race at Mallory Park (May 20/21), Anglesey (June 24/25) and then Oulton again (July 15), before heading further south to run on Silverstone’s National layout (August 20) and then heading back north for races at Croft (September 16/17) and Oulton (October 28).
The week before the season finale is the FFord Festival at Brands Hatch (October 21/22), which will be on the support bill of TCR UK as the touring car series have moved into the admnistration of the BRSCC for next year.