KINGDOM OF JORDAN

The 2022 Avon Tyres National Formula Ford Championship provided a back and forth battle for the Pro Class crown with three drivers locked in combat throughout the majority of the season. Up and down the country, the championship visited many of the UK’s finest circuits and ended up being settled on the final day of the season in a nail-biting conclusion. Scott Woodwiss is your narrator.

On a sunny and blustery March weekend, the drivers headed to the Home of British Motor Racing as Silverstone’s International circuit played host to the opening rounds of the season.

After a late deal to join the grid, Irish hotshot Jordan Dempsey jumped straight in with the first pole position of the season and immediately led from the outset of race one, battling with Rory Smith and team-mate Tom Mills before Smith dropped back to leave Dempsey to win from Lucas Romanek and Mills. Jordan then wasted no time in running away with Sunday’s race win, initially backed up by Mills as rear gunner until he dropped out, giving Smith and Ammonite Motorsport’s Colin Queen the podium places instead.

hat-trick here too, but he was denied again in race three when he ran wide exiting the last corner and allowed Romanek to barely out-drag him to the flag to snatch the win. In contrast, it was Queen’s turn to have all the problems with 13th, eighth and a DNF to show for his Norfolk efforts.

Onwards to the home of Formula Ford and Brands Hatch’s Indy circuit which produced some of the best and most competitive racing of the season and the end of Romanek’s title charge after less than ideal results. Dempsey again did as he had in previous weekends and won the first two races, but for the third time was denied the clean sweep after a red flag incident at Paddock brought a premature end. Some stellar driving from Shawn Rashid helped him earn his first Formula Ford win once the result was declared with Queen and Smith also claiming podiums in Kent.

Above: He only put a deal together at the very last minute, but Jordan Dempsey was claimed the National Formula Ford title Opposite: John Murphy dominated Northern & Super Classic Formula Ford in his Van Diemen

Dempsey and Queen locked horns for the first time at Knockhill as the pair faced off in both races out in front. Consistent pressure from the American helped him pass Dempsey’s Spectrum on the final lap to steal the race one win, but the two drivers got a little too close in race two when they collided exiting the hairpin. This gave Oldfield Motorsport’s Lucas Romanek his first National win in the process after battling his way to the front ahead of Ben Cochran and Andre Lafond. Moving onto Croft, Dempsey struck back with two wins of his own, but couldn’t complete the hat-trick in the reverse grid third race, unable to rise higher than third behind winner Queen and 2021 Formula Ford Festival winner Jamie Sharp. Romanek was the luckiest man of the weekend after surviving a nasty accident with Sharp in race one and eventually battling his way back to fifth.

Romanek’s momentum seemed to continue as the championship hit the halfway stage at Anglesey, driving superbly all weekend to claim two wins either side of a second National career win for Jamie Sharp, repeating the feat he’d scored at the same meeting a year earlier. Dempsey was strangely off the pace for most of the meeting and couldn’t better a second place while Queen picked up two podiums. Now the top three were really starting to come together with just three meetings left. Dempsey found his mojo again at Snetterton and could have completed the

With just Dempsey and Queen left for the Pro Class honours, Donington Park’s GP circuit would decide the fate of the National title. Damage for Dempsey in race one caused a major setback as guest driver Niall Murray took the race one win, but Queen’s second place still saw him score maximum points. He followed this with outright victory in race two, but heading into the final race with a gap of exactly 34 points, it meant that Dempsey would still win on countback no matter what happened. Andre Lafond defended his teammate to win the final race of the year with Queen second, while Dempsey’s sixth place in class was more than enough to crown him National Formula Ford champion for 2022 - a nailbiting conclusion to another excellent season of single seater racing from start to finish.

Shawn Rashid’s exceptional first season of Formula Ford racing saw him romp away with the Rookie Class title in the end while the two sub-competitions, the Triple Crown and Tourist Trophy, were wrapped up by Colin Queen (TC) and Lucas Romanek respectively (TT). In addition, a tie-up with the new GB4 Championship saw Queen, Romanek and Brandon McCaughan finish the season as the top three teen drivers (still aged 19 or under at the end of the calendar year) to go forwards to a special three-way shootout test in a GB4 car, with the winner receiving a £20,000 prize cheque towards funding a season of racing in the championship in 2023. Colin Queen was named as the eventual winner on the Friday evening before the Formula Ford Festival and is now heading into a full season of GB4 with Fortec in 2023!