Rochester’s Simon Rudd was happy with his performance at Brands Hatch in the inaugural Formula Four race last weekend.

The pressure was on all the local drivers at their home race in front of a packed ground and Simon admitted that it made all the difference with a massive ground at the circuit.

He said: “Yes, it has a whole different feel when racing to testing. Although, when you get in the car, I am focused on getting the best results whether it be testing or racing.”

It is definitely something that the young racing driver wants to experience more of in his career as it starts to take off.

He added: “Of course! There was such a buzz from the weekend. I had so much support from family and friends throughout the weekend and the aim is to get onto the podium in the future.

“There is a lot of work to be done between now and then, and I am looking forwards to going back there later on in the season.”

The young Formula Four drivers also had the honour and opportunity of meeting an experienced racing driver in Jenson Button, who Simon revealed took a keen interest in the series.

“We had a Q&A session with him and he gave us some good advice on how to improve. He asked the drivers some questions about the series and previous experience so it was nice of him to take an interest.

Back to the racing and Simon managed to move his points total on to 17 and he now sits in 20^th place overall but in fifth place in the ‘who zooms’ standings, which recognises well executed overtaking moves.

Simon said: “It was good to score some points, however I was disappointed that I didn’t finish higher up. I think that we had a good weekend in terms to progression and hopefully this will continue onto Snetterton.

“With the way that the championship works, you have to get a good qualifying position – especially as it is so hard to overtake on the Brands Indy track.

“Unfortunately I couldn’t deliver a time quick enough to get me into the midfield and so I was on the back foot from the start of the weekend. Racing back through the field was very enjoyable though and I am hoping for more battles like that throughout the season.”

Overall the weekend was one of improvement for the team and Simon is already looking for further improvements for the rest of the season for both himself and the car.

He added: “The whole team is new to single seater racing, so every time we are out in the car everyone is learning something. The team’s results show that we are already competing with the more established teams and that gives everyone confidence that we will move forward even more.

“I feel that I am adapting quite well and learning so much every time I sit in the car. There is such a range of experience throughout the field and beating some of the people that have already been racing single seaters is showing the progress that we are making. Hopefully it won’t be too long until we are looking at challenging the top ten and ultimately getting onto the podium.

“We will be working hard behind the scenes getting everything ready for Snetterton. We should be out in the car doing some testing beforehand to get some good circuit knowledge and setups. I am really looking forward to it and hoping to move up the grid!”

Pictures supplied by Jakob Ebery.