PRESS RELEASE:
With title in sight, Gornall sets new records at Rockingham!

Podium joy for James at Rockingham!

James Gornall the 19 year old racer from Werrington, is simply taking the racing world by storm in this his first year in single seater car racing. At Rockingham this weekend in a double header meeting, he put in what can only be described as a truly magnificent performance in his bid for the BARC Formula Renault Championship. In doing so he has virtually put the title out of reach for any of his more experienced competitors and should add this to his 2001 British Karting Championship in 2 weeks time at Donington Park for the penultimate round.

On Saturday, James put his JA Motorsport Van-Diemen on pole in the morning timed qualifying, with a remarkable time of 1m.24.8 secs against the lap record held at 1m 26.5secs. and a full 1.2 secs ahead of second place , Fisher, his nearest rival. In the afternoon race, James was beaten off the line by Fisher and was held at bay for a couple of laps. However on lap 3 James executed a quite remarkable passing maneuver to take the lead and in the remaining laps of the 12 lap race extended his lead to over 10 seconds to take the win. During the race James yet again smashed the lap record by a full second setting a new one of 1m 25.5 secs.

Sunday qualifying was much the same as Saturday with James on pole with a margin of 0.6 secs. The afternoon race was however a little more eventful! Going into turn 2 at the start, James alongside Fisher was hit from behind by Barrett who had clearly missed his braking point sending James off the track and into a recovery area along the oval. Whilst the rest of the field were negotiating the infield track James calmly drove round the oval and rejoined his then 2nd place as they all streamed back onto the oval section of the track . A course of action allowed by the regulations provided the driver does not gain advantage. From second place James quickly took the lead from Fisher, when the race was immediately red flagged due to a different incident.

For the restart James was placed second on the grid due to a lap ‘countback’ system. Pressure was obviously mounting for James with the incidents and restarts as a good result would be key. And that’s exactly what he did. He drove with the maturity of a seasoned campaigner, passed Fisher for the 3rd time of the weekend to take a glorious second victory. 2 victories made all the more remarkable because whilst he instructs at Rockingham, this weekend was the first time James had actually driven the parts of the track used to race on in a single seater!

James’ comment, “The car has felt good all weekend which has really allowed me to push hard. I came here with the aim of a double victory and got it. Fantastic! The new lap record is a bonus! I really don’t think I can be caught now in the Championship and will be going to Donington Park on the 5th October to enjoy myself and of course go for another win. After that we’ve still got a round at Thruxton on 19th October. I’m really looking forward to both of them.” James had a BBC camera crew with him over the weekend filming him in action to be shown soon. James is now keen to find a major sponsor for 2004 to further his career. A career which is clearly destined for the very top.

Click here for a selection of Rockingham photo's