Brands Hatch, England \u00e2\u20ac\u201c After burning up the Brands Hatch \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Indy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d circuit during testing for the past four days, 2010 Team USA Scholarship drivers Spencer Pigot and Felix Serralles are ready for their first proper action when qualifying for the Formula Ford Festival begins at 9:50 local time tomorrow morning.<\/p>\n
Both Pigot, 17, from Windermere, Fla., and Serralles, from Haines City, Fla., have shown a promising turn of speed in their pair of Cliff Dempsey Racing-prepared Ray GRS07\/8 Formula Ford cars. Nevertheless, ever-realistic team principal Cliff Dempsey remains under no illusions. He knows full well there will be no shortage of tough competition.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m really happy with the way everything is going,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Dempsey, a former driver himself who along with wife Michelle has established one of the most highly regarded Formula Ford teams. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re as quick as anybody but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see what happens [in qualifying] tomorrow. Anything can happen in this game and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d much rather speak about them after everything is done, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no doubt these two boys are as quick as any we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever had. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m happy with what I see and the way it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going; we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re certainly on the pace.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Pigot has been setting fast times ever since testing started on Tuesday, regularly circulating around the 50-second mark and sometimes a little bit quicker \u00e2\u20ac\u201c unofficially as fast as anyone has gone this year in a Formula Ford car \u00e2\u20ac\u201c while Serralles has been snapping at his heels. Both youngsters expect to be running up toward the front this weekend and have high hopes of emulating fellow Team USA Scholarship winner Josef Newgarden, who in 2008 because the first American driver ever to win a Formula Ford Festival title.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Testing the last few days has been great,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Pigot, winner of this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s BFGoodrich\/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda title in the United States. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had a lot of fun and the guys at Cliff Dempsey Racing have been awesome. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got the car handling beautifully and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m really looking forward to qualifying tomorrow because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m very confident of being right at the front.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The testing has been very productive and helpful for me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d added Serralles, who is also a product of the MAZDASPEED Driver Development program. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Every time that I have been out in practice, I just keep learning more and more about the car and the track. My favorite corner by far is Paddock Hill. To me it sort of looks like Road Atlanta Turn One, but in the opposite direction!<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m feeling very comfortable with the car and I think we can do well.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The field of almost 50 cars has been divided into two Heat races which will determine the starting positions for another pair of Semi Final races on Sunday morning. Both Team USA drivers have been drawn in the same Heat Two race, which will start tomorrow at 2:25 pm local time.<\/p>\n
The top 14 finishers from each Semi Final will qualify for the Grand Final on Sunday afternoon, along with the top-four finishers from the Last Chance Race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brands Hatch, England \u00e2\u20ac\u201c After burning up the Brands Hatch \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Indy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d circuit during testing for the past four days, 2010 Team USA Scholarship drivers Spencer Pigot and Felix Serralles are ready for their first proper…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"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\/366"}],"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=366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":367,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions\/367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}