Team USA Impresses in Shakedown Test

Oct 15, 1992
Fawkham, England – The trio of racers entered by Team USA in the upcoming Formula Ford Festival & World Cup completed an encouraging shakedown test today at the Brands Hatch circuit where they will race on October 23-25.
Team USA Scholarship drivers Ashton Lewis Jr. and Tony Ave, along with guest driver Geoff Boss, demonstrated their determination to run right on the pace in the prestigious event as all three drivers ended up within a second of the day’s fastest time on their very first visit to the tricky 1.2-mile track.

The test day was reserved for the exclusive use of drivers running the popular Van Diemen chassis. Team USA’s brand-new RF92 models were only finished late on Wednesday night, requiring most of the morning session to be spent on making the drivers comfortable.

All three cars were ready in time for the drivers to run-in their new mounts before lunch, leaving them eager to work on learning the circuit and setting up their cars in the afternoon session. With the help of the experienced and hard-working John Village Automotive team, the drivers ran steadily throughout the afternoon, with only Lewis suffering some minor teething problems.

Oldsmobile Pro Series titlist Ave ended the day with the fastest lap of 48.2s, followed closely by Zerex Saab standout Lewis’ time of 48.5s and double Skip Barber Formula Ford champion Boss on 48.6s. Their times compared favorably with the 47.6s set by Danish teenager Jan Magnussen, a strong pre-Festival favorite, and a lap of 47.8s from Russell Ingall, an Australian who ran second in last year’s Festival Final and now competes in the German Formula 3 Championship.

The Team USA pilots resume testing on Tuesday, October 20 – the first of three practice days set aside for the large overseas contingent leading up to the start of official qualifying on Friday.