As Daniel Erickson lined up for the first of two deciding rounds of the British Formula Ford Championship at Castle Combe last weekend, his chances of becoming the category‘s top 2009 debutant in Britain looked as gloomy as the leaden Wiltshire sky above.
Erickson, 21, had qualified his Australian-built Spectrum 011c for the twin 18-minute races in lowly ninth and 10th positions (they would have been 10th and 11th if race officials hadn’t relegated Josh Hill to the back of the field for a technical infringement).
Worse, his main rival for the unofficial rookie title – and Kevin Mills Racing team-mate – Daniel Cammish was at the pointy end of both starting grids, in fourth position.
(Cammish was already a certainty for the championship’s official junior award, which strangely excludes drivers who have raced in the category anywhere, any time. As the 2008 Australian Formula Ford Championship ‘Rookie of the Year’, Erickson was ineligible for the British trophy.)
Erickson’s best qualifying lap of 1m 21.766s was 1.284s outside Chrissy Palmer’s pole time, and his next fastest lap of 1.21.168, which determined his grid position for the second race, was 1.609s off Palmer’s pace.
“It was showering on and off all day and the track was wet for qualifying, but the team wasn’t sure which car set-up would work best,” Erickson said. “So we gambled on different set-ups for Daniel Cammish and me, and his set-up turned out to be the right one!
“I just couldn’t get my car out of the corners quickly because it kept getting sideways whenever I got on the throttle.”
In the four hours between qualifying and the first race, Erickson’s mechanics reset his car like Cammish’s – “Actually we went a bit further than his,” the young Aussie said – but even if it went like the clappers there was a handful of fairly fast cars separating the #12 and #11 Spectrums.
Catching Cammish, let alone overtaking him, was a tall order.
ROUND 24
Erickson’s round 24 campaign got away to a flying start as he overtook a couple of drivers when the lights turned green.
One of them, Spaniard Jordi Cunill, shoved his way back past Erickson at the first corner, Quarry, but after four laps the Australian Motor Sport Foundation ‘International Rising Star’ had battled his way up to fifth place.
He was still behind Cammish, though – not two places ahead, where he needed to be in both races to leapfrog into fifth place in the pointscore – when disaster struck.
Erickson overshot the first chicane on the treacherous rain-sodden circuit, but although the excursion didn’t gain him any time race officials thought differently. They slapped a drive-through penalty on the #12 Spectrum driver, dropping him to 15th place by the time he returned to the circuit.
“I can only assume that when the Clerk of the Course was notified by the corner officials that I’d cut the chicane, he saw from the timing screen that I had passed two cars on that lap,” he said.
“I did pass two cars on that lap, but it wasn’t at the chicane – there was no-one near me when it happened! I jumped on the brakes and consciously slowed right down over the grass to make sure I gained no advantage whatsoever.
“But the Race Director must have decided that I overtook those cars there, even though there was no evidence. Castle Combe only has timing over the full lap, not three sectors like the major circuits.
“The whole thing was ridiculous, and I was furious, but I kept calm and went back out on the track determined to finish as high as I could.”
Then, as if to make up for the injustice, Fate smiled on Erickson and the safety car came out while the track was cleared of debris from several incidents. That allowed him, with the rest of the field, to close up behind erstwhile runaway leader Palmer.
At the restart, Erickson battled his way back to ninth place by lap 12. Then, with time for only one more lap in the 18-minute race, he found himself two places higher after two cars ahead tangled.
Not just any two cars – Erickson’s Kevin Mills Racing team-mates, Alex Jones and Daniel Cammish! Cammish was trying to recover lost positions after spinning out of fourth place, when he made an unsuccessful overtaking move at Quarry corner. Oops.
Erickson almost grabbed sixth place from Ben Barker on the last corner of the race, but failed by just 0.25s at the Finish line.
“I was going quicker than Ben, and was right on his gearbox going into Camp corner on the last lap,” Erickson said.
“I tried a lunge down the inside, but he defended his line and I pulled out of the move just in time. By then I knew that Daniel Cammish was out of the race, so it wasn’t worth risking not finishing just to gain one place.”
ROUND 25
Erickson’s seventh placing in round 24 and Cammish’s DNF turned the young Australian’s seven-point deficit into a nine-point lead in their private scrap for fifth place in the final pointscore. But the order would be reversed – for good – if Cammish held his Round 25 six-position starting grid advantage to the finish.
Erickson didn’t know where he stood as he lined up for the last race in the 2009 British Formula Ford Championship.
“I wasn’t exactly sure what the points situation was, he said. “I assumed that I was in front of Daniel after the first race, but I didn’t know by how far!”
Fortunately his start was even better than in Round 24, and he outjumped three drivers on the opening lap. That put him into a three-way Spectrum scrap for fourth place with – you guessed it – Cammish and Jones!
“Daniel, Alex and I were running together,” Erickson said. “After I passed Alex into Quarry corner, I charged up behind Daniel and waited for an opportunity to get past.”
“Eventually I passed him under brakes into Tower corner. I was a bit nervous, because he could have made things difficult, but he gave me enough racing room to get by.”
Erickson then closed in on third-placed Garry Findlay, but it was a couple of laps too late to do anything about getting past him. Anyway, I was ahead of Daniel so I had little to gain and a lot to lose.”
Erickson waved to his mechanics on the pit wall as he crossed the finish line, ending his British Formula Ford campaign on a high note.
“I waved .to the boys to say ‘Thank you’ for all their hard work during the series,” he said.
Afterwards, Erickson was disappointed not to have been a contender for victory in either race, but happy to be the highest-placed debutant in the final pointscore.
“More than anything I want to win, and finishing seventh and fourth can never feel as good as winning,” he said. “But those placings were good enough to achieve what I wanted today, so I’m glad about that.
“I want to thank everyone who has helped and supported my British Formula Ford Championship effort this year: my family and sponsors, especially the Australian Motor Sport Foundation; Kevin Mills Racing; and Mike Borland, who builds the Spectrum cars in Melbourne.”
Daniel Erickson’s final scheduled British race meeting for 2009 is the season-ending Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch on October 17-18.
* Daniel Erickson’s 2008 Australian Formula Ford season – in which he won the national series’ official Rookie of the Year award – made him ineligible for the British Formula Ford Championship’s junior ‘Scholar Class’ award, which is restricted to drivers with no racing experience in the category at any level.
2009 BRITISH FORMULA FORD CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUNDS 24 & 25 (FINAL) – CASTLE COMBE
RESULTS
Round 24 – 13 laps, 39km
1. Chrissy Palmer (GB) Mygale SJ09 18:17.032
2. Josef Newgarden (USA) Mygale SJ09 18:20.247
3. Josh Hill (GB) Van Diemen LA09 18:28.904
7. Daniel Erickson (AUS) Spectrum 011c 18:36.936
Round 25 (final) – 14 laps, 42km
1. Chrissy Palmer (GB) Mygale SJ09 18:36.359
2. Josef Newgarden (USA) Mygale SJ09 18:37.553
3. Garry Findlay (GB) Van Diemen LA09 18:48.039
4. Daniel Erickson (AUS) Spectrum 011c 18:50.618
FINAL POINTSCORE
1. James Cole (GB) 597
2. Josef Newgarden (USA) 549
3. Garry Findlay (GB) 493
4. Chrissy Palmer (GB) 485
5. Daniel Erickson (AUS) 411
