Former Douglas Motorsport Star Middleton Impressive at Daytona

Former Douglas Motorsport Star Middleton Impressive at Daytona

It was 24 hours to remember for Stuart Middleton. After winning the 2018 Sunoco Whelen Challenge, the youngest driver ever to win the competition, Stuart’s reward was a drive at the famous Rolex 24 race at Daytona International Speedway with the Action Express Racing (AX Racing) team, driving the Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi. Racing drivers from all areas of motorsport have been competing in this prestigious sports car race since 1962.

From his time here at Douglas Motorsport, it was clear he would go on to do great things in the sport. The 2015 Ginetta Junior scholarship winner, Ginetta Junior Winter Series champion in 2015 and overall vice champion in 2016, Stuart was competing at the front from the very start of his career and we always knew he’d go on to big things. This result at Daytona is going to open more doors for the 18 year old who is certain to go on to achieve great things in his future career.

Well done Stuart from all here at Douglas Motorsport.

2018 British F3 Calendar announced

2018 British F3 Calendar announced

From www.britishf3.com

The calendar for the 2018 BRDC British F3 Championship has been confirmed, with 24 races scheduled across eight rounds, seven of which will see the series continue to co-headline with the British GT Championship.

The season runs from the Easter Bank Holiday weekend at the start of April until mid-October, and will commence at Cheshire’s Oulton Park before visiting Rockingham, Snetterton, Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, Brands Hatch Grand Prix and Donington Park, before returning to the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit for the season finale.

Jonathan Palmer, Chief Executive of championship organiser MSV, commented: “Having completed two superb seasons of the revived BRDC British F3 Championship we’re excited to unveil our third calendar, which features some of Europe’s foremost circuits and the addition of a second visit to the full Silverstone Grand Prix circuit. We’re also pleased to extend our very successful partnership with SRO and the prestigious British GT Championship.

“We’ve produced two outstanding champions so far in Matheus Leist, who will compete in IndyCar next year, and Enaam Ahmed, who’s nominated for the McLaren Autosport Award next month, and look forward to that trend continuing in 2018!”

The familiar weekend format will remain for next season, with a qualifying session and a race on the first day of the meeting, followed by two races on the second day.

2018 BRDC British F3 Championship Calendar
31 March/2 April – Rounds 1/2/3 – Oulton Park (with British GT)
28-29 April – Rounds 4/5/6 – Rockingham (with British GT)
26-27 May – Rounds 7/8/9 – Snetterton (with British GT)
9-10 June – Rounds 10/11/12 – Silverstone GP (with British GT)
21-22 July – Rounds 13/14/15 – Spa-Francorchamps (with British GT)
4-5 August – Rounds 16/17/18 – Brands Hatch GP (with British GT)
22-23 September – Rounds 19/20/21 – Donington Park (with British GT)
13-14 October – Rounds 22/23/24 – Silverstone GP

Please note, the 2018 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship calendar remains provisional and subject to change. 

Harper Wins on the Double at Brands, Jewiss Dominates Rookies, More points for Canning

Harper Wins on the Double at Brands, Jewiss Dominates Rookies, More points for Canning

Dan Harper P3 2017

Daniel Harper

2 race wins for Daniel Harper on the final weekend of the BRDC British F3 championship capped off what was a fine season for Dan and for the entire Douglas Motorsport team.  Even though the two wins weren’t enough for Daniel to secure second place in the overall championship, it doesn’t deter from the fantastic season Dan has had, most notably the second half of the season where he won twice on 3 separate race weekends and was rarely off the podium.

Daniel finished on the second highest amount of points over the course of the season, 2 points behind Tom Gambles total, but after penalties and dropped points are taken into account he dropped to 3rd place overall. However, this was a great result for Harper who was rookie of the year in 2016 with Douglas Motorsport.

KIERN JEWISS

Kiern Jewiss once again showed why he is top rookie, with a clean sweep of the rookie class, winning all 3 rookie races and a 3rd place overall in race 1. Kiern’s stats for the season are very impressive. ending the season with 17 rookie wins –  the most wins by a rookie ever and 1 overall win. When combining wins with other podium finishes it’s a total of 21 rookie podiums and 12 overall podiums. That’s a lot of silverware and an unprecedented feat.

 

 

Kiern Jewiss

Tom Canning, another. rookie finished off his season with another visit to the rookie podium. Tom has shown consistent improvement throughout the season and will be one to watch next season

Jordan Cane earns 3rd British F3 Win at Donington

Jordan Cane earns 3rd British F3 Win at Donington

The 2018 BRDC British F3 Championship came to an end at Donington Park today.

After race 1 on Saturday where Jordan Cane finished in 5th and Callan O’Keeffe in 7th, the partially reversed grid in race 2 meant O’Keeffe and Cane would start in 2nd place and 4th place respectively. It was Jordan Cane who was take advantage of the reverse grid. Thanks to his quick start, Cane made up one place and remained in 3rd place for most of the race.

Callan O’Keeffe put the pressure on the first place driver, Kjaergard, from the start. Kjaergard defended his position throughout the race, causing the top 5 cars to bunch up. O’Keeffe had a lot more pace and made several attempts to pass, but it was on the final lap that he made a move that didn’t quite come off, instead, the front two came together which put an end to both their races. As a result, Jordan Cane took the lead, he held on for the last lap to take the chequered flag, his 3rd win of his F3 career.

“I feel sorry for Callan because you never like to see your team mate in that position and he had a lot more pace than the guy in front of him. They made contact and then it was just getting through the first corner and keeping my nose clean and managed to drive it home and take win number three of the season.

“The way our starts have been going this weekend, they’ve been mega so I certainly feel there is a podium in the last race but it will be tough because the top five are so competitive.”

– Jordan Cane after Race 2

jordan-cane-p2-in-race-3The incident in race 2 meant Callan O’Keeffe was to start last on the grid, effectively ending his chance at finishing the season on a high. Cane on the other hand began in 4th position, made his way up to 2nd position where he put pressure on the leader of the race and Champion Enaam Ahmed, finishing the race only .773 seconds behind Enaam.

“In all honesty I though we were going to be P1 at the end of the first corner as the Carlin boys almost came together and had a big squabble and I was saying in my head ‘please get together’ but regardless we had good pace, the speed of the car was amazing and we were matching Enaam to the thousandth of a second on the laps.

“This weekend has been a real turning point for us, in fact the last couple of weekends have been a big turning point. It just shows what we can do, it shows you don’t need to be in a Carlin car to win.

“It was chaotic from the start, we had a mega start again which is something we have been really strong on, this weekend especially. There was a big squabble going into the Melbourne Hairpin when Enaam made an aggressive move which bunched us up again. There was another squabble going into the Craner Curves and I managed to get Cameron around the outside of the Old Hairpin and I think he had a problem or something. But we applied a lot of pressure on Enaam to the end of the race and unfortunately we couldn’t get him but he’s got a bit more experience than me, but it’s a great way to end the year.”

-Jordan Cane after race 3

 

A weekend of mixed fortunes for the Douglas drivers, but it was clear that the cars had the pace to compete. Congratulations once again to former Douglas Motorsport driver Enaam Ahmed on his Championship win, and a big well done to the entire Douglas Motorsport team.

 

 

Jewiss Wins Rookie Title at Silverstone

Jewiss Wins Rookie Title at Silverstone

Silverstone was the location for rounds 21,22,23 of the Ginetta Junior Championship at Snetterton and it was here that Kiern Jewiss built up an unassailable lead in the Rookie Championship to become the Rookie Champion, 2017. Congratulations to Kiern and all of the Douglas Motorsport team on this success.

It’s the second year in succession that the Rookie Champion has come from the Douglas Motorsport team. In 2016 Dan Harper claimed the title and in 2015 Stuart Midleton became the Rookie vice-champion before going on to win the 2015 Winter Series.

Kiern will be officially crowned Rookie Champion at the last round of the championship at Brands Hatch on Aug 30/Sep 1

It wasn’t a perfect weekend for Kiern by any means, after taking the lead in race 1 the rain started to come down and contact from another car caused damage to Kiern’s Ginetta which meant he started to slip down through the field, eventually finishing in 9th position, but still enough to earn a Rookie podium finish.

Race 2 and Race 3 saw Kiern finish in 5th and 4th place respectively, picking up two Rookie wins, enough to give him the overall Rookie title.

 

 

Tom Canning Douglas Motorsport

Tom Canning continued his impressive performances by claiming another rookie podium in race 2. Race 1 saw Tom finish in 10th position, missing a rookie podium by 1 place. Another 10th position in race 2 saw him take 3rd place on the Rookie podium, with team-mate Jewiss on the top step.  These two 10th place finishes meant Douglas Motorsport had all three cars in the top 10 in the first two races.

Dan Harper began the weekend with a podium finish – 2nd place in race 1. Race 2 saw Dan drop back to 14th position after some contact at the front of the field. But, he was able to brilliantly fight his way back to eventually finish in 6th place, and gain some valuable points as his title rivals finished P1 and P2. In race 3 Dan was maintaining 5th place for most of the race until he made some fantastic overtaking moves towards the end of the race, eventually finishing P3 and achieving another podium.

Dan Harper celebrates podium

Dan remains in 3rd place in the overall championship. He has a mathematical chance of winning the overall championship, but 2nd place is a possibility, as Dan is only 13 points behind in 3rd place.

The final rounds of the championship take place at Brands Hatch on August 30th and September 1st.