BFF: Thruxton preview

Formula Ford looks to Thruxton after star-spangled Silverstone

The UK Formula Ford Championship heads to Thruxton in Hampshire this weekend (August 29/30) and current series leader Valle Makela will be aiming to return to the winner's circle after crashing out of round 14, opening the door for an American one-two for Joe D'Agostino and Charlie Kimball.

Finland's Makela has looked the class of the field for most of the season. However, a chink in the ice-cool Finn's armour appeared at Silverstone when D'Agostino went wheel-to-wheel with him at the start. The American wasn't going to be intimidated by the series leader and the resulting contact put the Finn in to the Silverstone pit-wall, and out of the race.

The re-start saw D'Agostino pick up his first race win of the year, something he had been threatening since the opening round. The next pair of races at Thruxton should let the battle continue, as the American is determined to climb onto the top step of the podium again this year.

The fast and flowing nature of Thruxton should see a classic pair of Formula Ford races. The long back section of the track means that all of the drivers will need to be committed to staying together to keep up a slip-stream to allow overtaking at the chicane and the complex. If a lone driver gets away, they might just be uncatchable.

Makela currently holds an 83-point lead over Kimball. Although it means he effectively has almost a three race cushion over the American he won't be able to sit back and relax. With six races left to run there is a possible 192 points still up for grabs. This means that any one of six drivers can still mathematically take the crown.

Kimball and D'Agostino showed that they have the pace and the racecraft to dominate the podium at Silverstone. The Team JLR drivers had never driven on the Grand Prix circuit before and did well to seal the top two positions. The results allowed Kimball to close the gap to Makela in second place. D'Agostino now sits in fifth place, just behind his team-mate Daniel Clarke.

Sweden's Sebastian Hohenthal now lies in third place in the points after a fourth and third place in the two races last time out. The Nexa Racing driver managed to push Kimball in the second race at Silverstone and he will want to keep closing the gap to the two guys ahead of him as the amount of points left available diminishes.

Charlie Donnelly rounds out the top six in the Jamun Racing Mygale. The Irishman has taken victory on two occasions so far this season at Donington and Knockhill. As the last driver capable of over-hauling Makela in the championship he will be looking for another trip to the top of the podium on Bank Holiday Monday.

Behind the top six, Neil Doran, Suk Sandher, Yuya Sakamoto and Julian Yap have all been in contention for the podium over the season. Any one of these four could cause problems for the top three.

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