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D'Agostino has mixed fortunes for opening rounds of 2005 UK Formula Ford Championship
Derbyshire, England – Reigning UK Formula Ford Scholarship Class Champion Joe D'Agostino had mixed fortunes in the opening rounds of the 2005 UK Formula Ford Championship at Donington Park in Derbyshire.
After a late signing with Team JLR (who took D'Agostino to 2004 UKFFC Scholarship Class Championship) and virtually no testing the young American had his work cut out. Not to be deterred D'Agostino got right to business in Friday testing by going quickest and unofficially breaking the Formula Ford lap record (Set in 2001-Tom Gaymor) by almost 0.5 of a second. With confidence high D'Agostino had a solid qualifying run, qualifying 3rd for Race 1 and 2nd for Race 2.
Onto Race 1 and after a strong start D'Agostino took the lead after the first corner and never looked back. Over the course of the 20-minute race D'Agostino set a record breaking pace with numerous laps consistently under the lap record. The American opened up an insurmountable lead of over 14 seconds to win the race, shattering the old lap record by over 0.4 of a second in the process.
For Race 2 D'Agostino would again be on the charge making a daring overtaking manoeuvre around the outside at the final chicane to lead the first lap. D'Agostino then pushed hard to repeat the same performance from the first race but ran wide and spun on the fourth lap, only to rejoin last. D'Agostino drove as hard as possible to recover working his way up to 7th position when while going for 6th contact was made with another competitor ending both of their races.
D'Agostino commented, "Although I am upset with myself for the mistake I made during the second race I can still learn and take positives from the situation. As much as I don't want to make mistakes no one is perfect and I'm no exception. Aside from that I thought it was a good weekend for the Team with a great win in the first race and a new lap record. I have to give full credit to the whole Team for a tremendous job in getting my new car done in time as it ran flawless all weekend."
Round 1- 1.) Joe D'Agostino 20:32.627; 2.) Duncan Tappy +14.700; 3.) Charlie Donnelly +15.350; 4.) Thor-Christian Ebbesvik +16.449; 5.) Steve Roberts +24.882; FL – Joe D'Agostino 1:11.706* (New Lap Record)
Round 2- 1.) Charlie Donnelly 20:44.170; 2.) Duncan Tappy +0.226; 3.) Rob Sunderland +1.546; 4.) Steve Roberts +11.796; 5.) Thor-Christian Ebbesvik +18.936; FL – Charlie Donnelly 1:12.201
Full results for Formula Ford rounds 1 & 2
The 3rd and 4th Rounds of the UK Formula Ford Championship will be held on the 23rd-24th of April at the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire.
Complete 2005 Formula Ford calendar
D'Agostino would like to thank Team JLR and all of his supporters: Arai Helmets, Mockett.com, Sparco USA, and all of his personal sponsors.
For further information about Joe D'Agostino please contact:
Joe D'Agostino jd@joedagostino.com
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