Nov 1, 2009
\nSilverstone, England \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Connor De Phillippi had a hard act to follow.<\/p>\n
One year ago, wearing Team USA Scholarship colors, his good friend Conor Daly became the youngest driver ever to win the prestigious Walter Hayes Trophy Formula Ford race at Silverstone. Daly made the return trip to England this year to cheer on the latest pair of Team USA Scholarship winners, and was every bit as happy to see De Phillippi take the checkered flag at the end of a thrilling 15-lap Final this afternoon \u00e2\u20ac\u201c driving the very same #22 Team USA Scholarship\/Cliff Dempsey Racing Ray GRS08.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even describe how I feel,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said an ecstatic De Phillippi, who at the age of 16 years, 10 months and six days, beat Daly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s record as the youngest ever Walter Hayes Trophy winner by a mere 10 days. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is by far the biggest race I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve won. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t thank everyone involved in the Team USA Scholarship enough. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a tremendous honor to be here. Hopefully the right people will see this and help us move up to the next step in my career.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Teammate Brett Smrz finished ninth following an incident early in the race which saw his car riding over the wheel of a rival. 2008 Team USA Scholarship winner Josef Newgarden finished sixth in his National School of Motorsport Van Diemen RF92, while fellow American Doug Prendeville, from Whippany, N.J., finished 30th in the 36-car Final.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, De Phillippi, from San Clemente, Calif., took advantage of a first-lap tangle between pre-event favorite Rory Butcher and Stuart Gough to take the lead in his 12-lap Semi Final. De Phillippi, who started fourth, narrowly avoided the melee and went on to control the remainder of the race. Smrz, from Coeur d\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Alene, Idaho, was third in the other Semi Final race, which was held on a drying track after heavy rain earlier in the morning.<\/p>\n
Newgarden had a busy day, winning the Last Chance Race to earn a place on the back of the grid for the first Semi Final and then charging through to finish fifth. Prendeville finished 18th in the same race.<\/p>\n
De Phillippi secured pole for the Final by virtue of winning the faster of the two Semi Finals. He immediately took off into the lead at the start, chased by Irishmen Robert Barrable and Neville Smyth and Englishman Felix Fisher.<\/p>\n
De Philippi eked out a small advantage over the first few laps, but then strayed too far onto the curb at the tricky Brooklands corner and went into a n enormous sideways slide which he did extremely well to control. By then he had fallen back to fourth place, but realized he was still very much in contention.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I just had to take a breath and get my head back in the game,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he recounted. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The car was on rails. I knew I was quick so I just had to focus on getting back up there.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
He made short work of Smyth, then passed Barrable in a brilliant move in the Brooklands\/Luffield complex of corners. Fisher did everything he could to hold off the young American\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s advances, but to no avail. De Phillippi finally made his move for the lead at the Beckett\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hairpin and romped on to victory by just over a second.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If he wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have lifted, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have gone for a wild ride,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said De Phillippi, who wowed the fans \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as well as an appreciative crowd of motorsports veterans in the British Racing Drivers Club Suite \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with his impressive drive.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was a bit conservative at Brands [Hatch two weeks earlier in the Formula Ford Festival],\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said De Phillippi, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153but that was just a warmup. This weekend I was a lot more aggressive and it paid off.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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