Round one of the ACU/FSRA British F2 Sidecar Championship is hosted by the North Gloucester Road Racing Club in the leafy village of Little Budworth Oulton Park. Various teams have already been out testing ready for the new season which will see practice and qualifying on Friday 7th April and two races on Saturday 8th April. All teams will be hoping for reliability as the following weekend the second round will be staged at Cadwell Park.
The main rule change this season is that teams can now run fully tuned bottom end and Supersport cams, and so any wildcard Cup/Super grade will be allowed to enter up to a maximum of two meetings during the season.
Now on to the teams, the reigning Super F2 champions Peter Founds and Jevan Walmsley will be looking to defend their title, they will still be running their number 72 this season, after a comprehensive eight wins from ten races last season, the title was wrapped up before the last round. Looking to go one better will be Team ARC Lee Crawford and World Championship and TT winning passenger Patrick Farrance. Also a team to look out for will be the Father and Son pairing of Steve and Matty Ramsden who had a very successful third place finish in the championship last season after finishing 3
rd in the F2 cup in 2015 and last year won their first British F2 sidecar race on the coastal circuit at Anglesey.
A new team to enter the Super F2 Cup this season is ex British Formula 1 sidecar champion Sean Hegarty who will be joined by the very talented James Neave. Joining the ranks of the Super F2 will be Gary and Daryl Gibson as they are promoted this season after winning the F2 Cup last season which is a championship within a championship and with an influx of new teams entered this year it will be difficult to predict who will be favourites.
One noticeable absence this season will be the legendary Roy Hanks who after over fifty years of driving a sidecar has decided to hang up his leathers and everyone at the FSRA would like to wish you well in your retirement Roy and many thanks from the teams you have helped over the years.
On to the F2 Cup and with no less than ten new teams moving from club level racing to the British Championship and with a total of fifteen contesting the F2 Cup, this has never been so healthy. Reigning BMCRC champions Brian Ilaria/Jody James will be amongst the favourites and joining them will be another Father and Son team reigning BEARS champions Dean and Ben Dickinson.
Among the wildcards entered in to the fray namely two times TT winner and multiple British Championship winner John Holden along with Lee Cain.
The FSRA would like to thank the ACU, Lockside Engineering, Yorkshire Engine Supplies, Breitenbach Rennsport/Pagid Racing, A V Craine & Sons for their continued support and to welcome Whitby Cottages and ARC as new series sponsors this coming season.
Thanks to the host club there will be live timing available at the following link
http://www.vola-racing.com/circuitpro/ngroadracing/
Please check for updates through the season
http://www.fsra.org.uk