The world renowned Formula Ford Festival held at Brands Hatch Circuit in England is now in the history books. Team Canada Scholarship driver Chase Pelletier acquitted himself well with a solid 14th place finish in the final. The results don’t really show the true success the young racer had in his first trip abroad as he enjoyed a week of close competition and fierce on track battles. The fall English weather brought a few damp and wet sessions during the week and it was in those sessions Chase really showcased his talent. He paced the field on two separate occasions in testing and was never out of the top 10 in any other of the varied weather sessions.

While it took a bit to get used to the style of defending and aggressive driving tactics, a solid performances in the heat race and a great run in the semi would yield a 6th place finish allowing Chase to start on the 6th row in 11 place, for final. With a cap of 56 cars entered and only 28 spots available, Chase did a great job making it to the final. The final grid had a stellar line up of previous winners and several FF Champions from all over, trying to take home the trophy. Local knowledge and talent would prove to be imperative, as the young racer was shown some lessons he will no doubt take with him as moves forward with his racing career.

“We are very proud of Chase and his performance during the entire trip to Brands Hatch. He certainly had the pace to be a top 5 driver, and in fact, was on top in the adverse conditions. He will no doubt take what he learned and use it to his advantage as he continues his climb up the motorsports ladder. It was a great week and the Cliff Dempsey Racing team were top notch, as usual. We would like to thank our supporters who made the Team Canada Scholarship successful and our friends who followed us all week long on our Facebook page,” comments Team Canada founder Brian Graham.

In addition to the on track racing, Brian and Chase made an appearance at The Kentagon Saturday night to participate in the driver forum. The event was once again hosted by the voice of Brands Hatch, Brian Jones, overseeing his 39th Formula Ford Festival! Brian and Chase represented Canada well and spoke highly of the experience of being at Brands Hatch. A great week was capped off with a celebratory dinner at Team Canada’s favourite English pub, The Rising Sun, just a few minutes down the road where everyone was able to finally relax and talk about the success of the program.

Moving forward, plans are already underway for next year with new program ideas to further involve our supporters and some interactive events to raise not only awareness of the Team Canada Scholarship but to seek further funding as well. The main goal will be to return with two drivers for 2015 and have the funding available to expand the program to include the very popular Walter Hayes Trophy Race event held at Silverstone.

It is as always our privilege to thank our loyal supporters of Team Canada Scholarship who make it all possible and show support to our aspiring young racers from across the country.

K-Line Insulators, Aim Autosport, FEL (Franczak Enterprises LTD), Multimatic, Door Doctor, Gary Allen Racing, Formula Tour 1600, Calabogie Motorsports Park, E.Bollenbach Insurance Brokers, Hallman Construction, Rod-End Mechanical, OFFC, RMB Inc., Bamford Produce, BARC, TNT Promo, Inside Track Communications, BGR Team Grote, and Paragon Competition.

To keep up to date with developments please visit www.teamcanadaracing.org or like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/teamcanadascholarship