Dempsey starts 2022 FF season with double victory
Jordan Dempsey is looking forward to the mid-May races of the BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 Championship, having opened the season with two wins from the first four races.
The Mullingar man is preparing for the rounds at Croft circuit in Yorkshire on May 14 and 15 with a lead of seven points in what is one of the most competitive championships anywhere in motor racing.
His success so far comes despite having started the year with no plans for racing, but he put together a deal with Kevin Mills Racing and backing from his supporters, Rescu U, Kia Sleator, and Canore Hygiene.
That allowed him to be present on the grid at Silverstone for the opening races in the series on March 19 and 20, where he proved his class once again and followed up fastest time in qualifying with two race wins.
That gave him a 20-point lead in the championship going into the following meeting, at Knockhill in Scotland on April 10.
His confident form carried through, and despite a lack of sleep forced by the long wait at Dublin Airport (he was up at 1.30am), he qualified on pole and led race one until halfway through the last lap.
“My tyres started going off, making my car slide a lot, and second place caught up to me,” said Jordan. “That led to a mistake on my part on the last lap, letting the second place car get a run past.
“I started second for race two and had much better speed after the team made a few setup changes, and I was all over the leader, taking the lead at the hairpin on lap 5 or 6 - before getting taken out and damaging my car.
“After a few laps trying to drive round and score points, I came into the pits to fix the car. With the car still damaged, I came back out and got fastest lap and also surprisingly 10th place after passing seven cars that I thought I was unlapping myself from!
“My lead in the championship was shaved from 20 points to just seven after that weekend, but there’s lots of room for improvement.”
Coverage of the Silverstone races is below; Jordan's race starts at 41 minutes.