ON TRACK WITH HENRY SURTEES
2007 UK Formula BMW Championship
Farewell Formula BMW and thanks
by John Surtees
For the final rounds of the 2007 FBMW Championship and the last to be held in the UK Henry headed north to the Knockhill circuit, Scotland’s national motorsport centre for the biggest racing event of the season. With seven podiums and a race win at Donington Henry was looking forward to visiting the challenging 1.3 mile circuit.
Friday 31 August: Practice
For the first practice session the weather was cloudy with a strong westerly wind. Henry completed 26 laps and recorded the second fastest time of 51.453.
The second practice session in the afternoon the weather conditions were much the same and Henry completed a total of 33 laps recording the second fastest time in 51.136. In both practice sessions Henry recorded times faster than the circuit’s lap record.
Saturday 1 September: Qualifying
Qualifying for Round 17 was a 20 minute session; it was cloudy with a dry track. Henry’s times throughout the session were consistent and he recorded the second fastest time of 51.355 which was 2/10ths of a second faster than the previous lap record placing him second on the grid alongside Championship leader Marcus Ericsson.
Qualifying for Round 18 in the afternoon the weather was cloudy with a very strong westeerly wind. Henry again finished second fastest with a time of 51.291 which was a little quicker than the morning session placing him second on the grid and once again alongside the Championship leader Ericsson.
Sunday 2 September: Race 1 / Round 17
Conditions were forever changing and the track was wet so all cars went to the line with wets fitted. But there was a delay to the start due to the circuit lights failing. Reports back from drivers from the previous race meant a frantic change to slicks took place on the line. The race was started with the dropping of the Scottish flag. Henry made a superb start passing Ericsson to take the lead and giving himself a few lengths lead for the first three laps before pushing a little too hard at the chicane by taking in too much of the damp kerb and running wide into the gravel losing the lead to second place which he held until the safety car came out.
On release of the safety car Henry challenged the leader Ericsson nearly passing him on the first corner where Ericsson pushed him wide allowing Makela to take advantage to get through on the inside, Makela did not have the pace and Ericsson got away. In hindsight Henry should have waited his time and picked off Makela to assure a second place, but the racer instinct saw a gap going into the hairpin which ceased to be one when Makela turned in. Henry was judged by the Clerk of the Course to be at fault in taking an advantage which moved Henry back to 13th place – more points lost (!) and further experience for Henry.
Sunday 2 September: Race 2 / Round 18
For the final round of the Championship Henry was again placed on the front row of the grid alongside Ericsson. He made a good start and maintained his second position throughout the race holding off any challenges from the more experienced Kral and other drivers. He finished in second place, his eighth podium of the Championship.
In any career, and particularly in motorsport, a ladder has to be climbed of both experience and hopefully success. Henry has successfully climbed the rungs of karting, Junior Ginetta and now Formula BMW. The results of the final season of the FBMW UK Series are widely accepted that this season’s competition has attained new heights of the young drivers competing in the Championship.
From Henry’s point of view finishing 'second Rookie' to the Championship winner and yet an undecided position due to a Carlin appeal with the MSA it is a season which brought eight podiums, including a race win, and record laps.
Some mistakes by Henry, the odd mechanical problem and brushes with certain officials halted the challenge for a top spot. The speed and performance demonstrated that Henry is a determined racer and perhaps, at only 16, these are the most important qualities to have shown - the rest will come with a little more maturity.
So it is goodbye to BMW for the present, it is John’s belief that there is more to be learnt on testing and racing on the superb circuits that are available in the UK which means that Henry will not be joining the newly formed FBMW European Series for 2008.
Our plans for the end of 2007 and the 2008 season will be announced as soon as possible depending upon the confirmation of existing support and new partners in the quest to climb further rungs of the ladder.
We thank Henry’s school, Worth Abbey, for their support and understanding in him achieving excellent GCSE results as he now prepares for his AS Levels. We would also like to thank Steve Hollman and the Carlin Motorsport Team for their enthusiastic support and belief in Henry’s ability.
Sincere thanks too to the following sponsors and partners who have supported Henry for the 2007 FBMW Championship:
• George Barber and his exciting Motorsport Park in Birmingham, Alabama, USA
• Scalextric in their 50th Anniversary year
• Brian Beach of Phoenix Consulting
• Vehvac Air-conditioning of Edenbridge
• Arai Helmets
• Puma
And we also express our appreciation to BMW and Nigel Mansell, Ambassador to the Formula BMW UK Championship, for the confidence they showed in Henry by awarding him a BMW Scholarship.
Photographs available from www.jakobebrey.com/henrysurtees
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