Simon Rudd made his long awaited return to the track in the final round of the Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain recently.

The 24-year-old from Chatham has raced previously in the Formula Four Championship but hadn’t been on track for months.

He got that opportunity at Brands Hatch in the final race of the British Touring Car calendar in the Formula Ford support race, and he loved every minute of it.

Talking exclusively to Kent Sports News Simon said: “It was great! I haven’t been in a race car since June so it was great to get the opportunity with Falcon Motorsport to race in the last round of Formula Ford.

“Before qualifying I had managed 15 laps in the car and on the track – so my expectations were to get as far up the field as possible in qualifying. I didn’t expect to have three front row starts so it was a great start to the weekend and something I really wanted to build on as much as possible.”

The racing was a bit hit and miss for Simon in terms of the results that he achieved but it was all about developing the car as the race weekend went on.

He added: “The first race was the first time I drove the car and track in dry conditions. I wanted to use race one to understand the car in the dry to maximise the pole position in race two. I knew it would be difficult to maintain my starting position, just due to my lack of experience, and it was going well until around lap three or four when the steering got quite heavy.

“Ninth was disappointing from my point of view but it was my first ten laps in the car in dry conditions, so we took the positives into race two.

“In race two I was coming through Paddock Hill Bend when I lost drive. As it is such a quick corner, the car behind didn’t have enough time avoid me and I got hit from behind and straight into the wall. There is nothing that either of us could have done to stop that happening – it was just bad luck.

“Race three was good. I was running a strong second until the safety car came out so we all closed up again. Lack of experience on the restart caught me out but I managed to get it back together and come home sixth overall and third in the scholarship class. I was really happy with my first podium and a good way to end a mixed, but great, weekend!”

With the season now over Simon is going to be working hard to get a package in place so that he can compete in a full season next year.

“Over the winter we will be working really hard to get a budget together to do a whole season next year. I think that with a full budget sorted early to allow us to plan and prepare for the year ahead, it will be a hugely successful one. It would be great to get some testing in between now and the start of next season and the F4 winter series is a possible option.

“This time last year, I was at Brands as a spectator to watch the final of the BTCC, this year I was part of it and it was a great experience. Even though the weather was awful, there was a huge crowd and buzz around the place, it was great! I didn’t get to see a lot of the racing but I watched the last race of BTCC and it was great to see a new champion crowned!”

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