19 year old James Gornall from Werrington, Peterborough has picked up yet another award at the opening round of his toughest motor racing season to date.

The Staffsmart UK sponsored race ace, who this year is contesting the Formula Renault UK Championship, the largest and most competitive single-seater series in the UK, fielding 34 cars, was aiming to finish in the top 10, with his new to the series team, JA Motorsport. The team that took him to the BARC Formula Renault title last year. At this early stage, and still learning against seasoned campaigners from around the world, some of whom are already on F1 contracts, a top 10 finish would be seen as a superb result.



Things were not looking too good however after the first race on Saturday, when, to avoid another car barrel rolling on lap 3 at over 100mph, James had to take avoiding action along with 5 or 6 other cars. This left his car stalled on the track and after failed attempts to restart the engine he had to retire from his very first race!

Undaunted, for the second race on Sunday, Gornall started from grid 18 and was determined to make up places.
This is exactly what he did. After making a good start at the lights, he avoided a first corner incident to make up early places. As the race settled down James followed closely behind Championship favourite Wesley Barber, challenging to overtake him on a number of occasions, and matching all the front runners lap times to take the chequered flag and a well deserved 10th place. This, to the delight of the 15000 or so spectators crowded in to the Thruxton Circuit who were also there to watch the British Touring Car Championship. So impressed were the Championship organisers that Renault UK awarded James the honour of ‘Driver of the day’.

Speaking after the race James said “ I am really pleased with this result. Whilst it might not be a podium finish, to be honest I have a bit more learning to do against most of the other drivers many of whom are in their second year. This Championship is seen as a two year programme, even Kimi Raikkonen who won in 2000 and then went straight in to Formula 1, took 2 years. It is very hard and ultra competitive. In qualifying yesterday only 5tenths of second separated me from 18th on the grid to 4th! Both myself and the team will be working very hard to get the results we want. A podium finish would be very nice but we will have to wait and see!”

Team manager James Beales’ reaction “ we were all a little down after what happened on Saturday, even though there was nothing James could have done to avoid it. But the result today is fantastic given the pressure James was under, and is actually better than we expected. He did a good solid job, something we’ve come to expect from him even with his limited experience. It’s really given the team a lift”
James’ next round is at Brands Hatch on the 24th and 25th April.

Should you be interested in supporting our very own next F1 star then do contact Ian on 07889 226225 or email: jigracing@hotmail.com.