FF Festival: Jonathan Browne Blasts to Victory In Festival Final

The 2019 Aimshop.com Formula Ford Festival champion is Jonathan Browne. The Cliff Dempsey Racing driver is the winner of the 48th running of the event at Brands Hatch.

Browne was virtually unchallenged throughout the twenty lap affair as he managed the gap to fellow Irish driver Niall Murray, building a significant gap after the safety car, setting the fastest lap in his Ray GR19. This weekend, the win had been coming, after he collected pole, won his heat and semi-final before his lights-to-flag affair in the Final.

Two-time Festival champion Murray took second place for the second year in succession, as Matthew Cowley repelled the attacks of those behind to come away as the highest finishing Brit.

It was a clean start for the front runners as Browne defended his lead from the hungry Niall Murray. Sadly for the Irish driver, a safety car was called before the end of the first lap as Team Canada’s Jonathan Woolridge stalled on the grid, still being present when Browne and the leaders came round for the second lap.

With 16 laps to run, Jonathan Browne was quick to drop Murray on the restart, leaving him in the clutches of Matthew Cowley, Chris Middlehurst and Michael Eastwell. Cowley would delay his attack for a lap and Middlehurst was not prepared to be patient, diving past Cowley into McLaren.

Browne had hoped that his early advantage would maintain throughout the final, but as the race settled in, Murray finally found his feet, closing down the leader a few tenths every lap. This pace would continue until the sixteenth lap when Browne set the fastest lap, putting a comfortable margin between himself and the double champion.

It would be a maiden Festival win for Jonathan Browne. Especially noteworthy as Browne had only won a single Formula Ford race prior to this weekend.

The fight for third proved to be the hot topic of the race, as Middlehurst, Cowley and Eastwell held each other up, until Cowley’s move into Paddock Hill dropped the Van Diemen’s LA10 of Middlehurst into sixth, only for the Team Dolan driver to drop further back as laps went on. Luke Cooper and Joey Foster were the next drivers to join the battle, but like Middlehurst, Cooper’s lost momentum saw him drop further back as Cowley continued to hold postion.

It would go the line, but Cowley crossed the line under two tenths ahead of Eastwell, who will be disappointed to have narrowly missed out on silverware. 2017 champion Foster was fifth at the flag, making it four chassis manufacturers in the top five.

As the battle for third disapated in the closing laps, Ross Martin was left as the leader of the chasing pack, coming home in sixth. Following him closely was Cooper, who eventually recovered to seventh as Team USA Scholarship’s Scott Huffaker lost out in the drag to the line with Middlehurst. The four drivers split by 0.8 sec. Huffaker’s fellow scholarship teammate; Josh Green, would complete the top ten at the meagre age of 16.

“It’s unreal, this is so cool. To dominate the whole thing was unexpected, but it’s a pleasant surprise… well, perhaps not a surprise, I knew how much pace I had. It’s an undescribable feeling.

Everything worked for us. To get the pole, win the heat in the wet, dominate the semi and be comfortable in the final was fantastic. I wouldn’t be able to do this without everyone in red down there. Cliff, Michelle, Team USA and Canada boys, Peter, we’ve all worked hard this weekend. As well as James Theodore my driver coach for telling me when to stop going bad.” – Jonathan Browne

Ireland won World Cup standings, largely thanks to the 1-2 achieved from Browne and Murray, who was pleased to have been beaten by a fellow countryman. Browne would also collect the fastest lap, with a lap of 50.363.

There was some disappointment further back as Ciaren Haggerty contact took him out of the top ten in the early laps as Team Canada suffered a double retirement. Callum Crawley and Alan Davidson completed the retirements, with Davidson’s a result of first lap contact that also involved Pascal Monbaron.

This left Scott Rivett to finish as the highest placed Historic runner, crossing the line twentieth in his Van Diemen RF91.