Oct 28, 2007 (photo: JamesBearne.com)
\nDartford, England \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Team USA Scholarship winners Patrick Barrett and Joel Miller created a strong impression during the opening weekend of the Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy, which featured three races all held in miserably wet conditions at Brands Hatch.<\/p>\n
Their ultimate results were disappointing but Barrett, in particular, showed impressive pace, especially in Race One when he ran similar lap times to the leaders after spinning out of sixth place following contact with another car. His race finished in the gravel trap at Druid\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hairpin on the final lap \u00e2\u20ac\u201c while he was attempting to regain fastest lap of the race from Jonathan Legris \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but he still came away encouraged.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was fun, very enjoyable,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Barrett. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Any time there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rain, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m happy. I got by [Alex] Brundle [for sixth place, after starting ninth] on the front straightaway, using the power-boost, but then he tried to repass me going into the hairpin, and his left-front wheel hit my right rear and I went off into the gravel.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Barrett lost a couple of laps before his car could be restarted. Miller, meanwhile, ran 10th before making a mistake at Paddock Hill Bend and crashing out of the race on lap 8.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My fault,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he admitted. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was on the boost, trying to make a pass, and I got int a bit too deep, locked up, and once I got on the paint [at the edge of the race track], I was history.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Race Two was similarly disappointing. Barrett made a great start to run among the top five before missing a down-shift on the approach to the challenging Paddock Hill Bend and plunging into the gravel trap.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t engage fourth gear,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he related. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153By the time it went in, I was going too fast, couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t match up the revs and just went into the kitty litter. Really disappointing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Miller was troubled by a front-end vibration after his car had been hastily repaired following his earlier \u00e2\u20ac\u0153off\u00e2\u20ac\u009d although at least he steered clear of trouble en route to a 12th-place finish.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Right away from the start I had a pretty good vibration, and under braking it just intensified,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Miller.<\/p>\n
Race Three was red-flagged after two cars spun off on Lap 3. Barrett again made a strong getaway at the restart, and was up into fifth place by the fourth lap, with Miller in ninth. Barrett then made a mistake on the exit of Clearways and was fortunate not to make contact with anything solid.<\/p>\n
After rejoining in 12th, Barrett quickly moved back inside the top 10, turning a series of competitive laps as he closed rapidly onto the tail of Miller in a battle for eighth.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I finished \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that was the important thing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Barrett. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was a bit frustrating behind Joel, but he drove a good race and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make any mistakes. I got a top 10 so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m happy, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m much better prepared now going into [the final weekend of racing at ] Snetterton.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Miller held off his faster compatriot as he notched the team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best finish of the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I just kept plugging away at it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Miller. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve only ever done one wet race before \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in a Skip Barber car at Laguna Seca \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so it was tough out there. I had a lot to learn. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m looking forward to next weekend with a lot of lessons learned \u00e2\u20ac\u201c note the plural!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Richard Keen won the first two races of the day while reigning FPA champion Tim Bridgman won Race Three.<\/p>\n
Team USA Scholarship supporters include Doug Mockett & Company, Champ Car World Series, American Honda, Snap-on Stars of Karting, Silicon Salvage, Dyson Racing, Integrated Performance Technology, Pacific Coast Motorsports, Andersen Racing Team, PitFit Training, iRacing.com, AutoRacing1.com, Metalore, Sparco USA, Cooper Tire, Cosworth USA, Champ Car Atlantic, Star Mazda, Buttonwillow Raceway, RACER magazine, FormulaCar Magazine, Pfanner Communications, Speedstar Management, Manifest Group, The Print Network and an array of past Scholarship winners.<\/p>\n
For complete results, go to www.formula-palmer-audi.com.<\/p>\n
Photo: Barrett (#2) and Miller in the wet at Brands Hatch (courtesy JamesBearne.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oct 28, 2007 (photo: JamesBearne.com) Dartford, England \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Team USA Scholarship winners Patrick Barrett and Joel Miller created a strong impression during the opening weekend of the Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy, which featured three…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1315,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1314"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1316,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314\/revisions\/1316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}