Josef Newgarden – Champagne Rain

Oxford, UK (May 6, 2009) – When I hear people talk about living in the UK, they usually have more than a word or two to say about the weather. In my case I’ve been running into a lot of rain in the UK recently, but I’m not talking about your normal every day rain because this has mostly been – champagne rain!

Since my last blog I’ve battled in six races and enjoyed three wins. That will usually cause a few champagne stains on your driver’s suit but I’m not going to complain about that! I know the season is young and I’ve got to continue to get better every race and every test day, because one thing’s for sure, the competition will always be getting better too.

My 2009 racing season has so far consisted of three Formula Ford races and, surprisingly, three Formula Palmer Audi races due to an extended opening on my schedule created by the postponement of the April Formula Ford event at Donington. I managed to win one of the three races that comprised the opening round of the Formula Ford season at Oulton Park, which was great, and then I won two of the three races FPA races which shared the same weekend as the A1 Grand Prix World Cup of Motorsport on the spectacular Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. Wow, that was exciting!

Although you might think the races I’ve won are on my mind the most, it’s really the ones that I’ve lost… Every time I race I try to learn something new and every time I lose (second or worse) I try to pick out a mistake that I’ll never make again. I know I’m not perfect (who is?) but I try never to make the same mistake twice!

I’m still testing frequently (two days just this week) and for the next few weeks plan to visit the U.S. for a little R&R, a lot of family time and even a trip to the Indy 500. There’s only one thing I like better than going to see a big time auto race (in this case the greatest spectacle on earth), and that would be competing in it! If things continue to go really well for me, this may be the last break I get in my schedule until November. I’ll keep you posted on a few other exciting events that may find there way onto my racing schedule in 2009.

You can expect to catch me back in action again in the MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain on May 30-31 at Rockingham. I’ve tested at this track twice now, and it’s really fast and flowing. I’m no professional weather man but I am expecting it to rain the next time I race at Rockingham, if you know what I mean……….