{"id":4610,"date":"2018-10-19T20:55:10","date_gmt":"2018-10-19T20:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/?p=4610"},"modified":"2018-10-19T20:55:10","modified_gmt":"2018-10-19T20:55:10","slug":"mullan-craig-all-set-for-brands-hatch-formula-ford-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/?p=4610","title":{"rendered":"Mullan, Craig All Set for Brands Hatch Formula Ford Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>BRANDS HATCH, England<\/strong> \u2013 After a successful \u201cwarmup\u201d race meeting last weekend at Donington Park and three days of testing this week at Brands Hatch, both Jake Craig and Colin Mullan feel well prepared as they head into this weekend\u2019s Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch.<\/p>\n

Craig, 20, from Mission Viejo, Calif., and Mullan, 16, from Danville, Calif., are the latest in a long line of talented young American drivers to take part in one of the most prestigious Formula Ford events of them all. The first-ever Formula Ford Festival was held at Snetterton in 1972, with future Formula 1 racer and Indy 500 champion Danny Sullivan among those competing for top honors. Four years later, in 1976, the event moved to Brands Hatch which has been its home ever since.<\/p>\n

Jimmy Vasser, as the inaugural Team USA Scholarship winner, was the first to represent the program at the Festival in 1990, while fellow Team USA driver Josef Newgarden, who went on to win the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series title, became the first and so far only American winner of the event in 2008. This year, as they have every year since, the pair of patriotically liveried Ray chassis will be fielded by Cliff Dempsey Racing.<\/p>\n

The famed \u201cIndy Circuit\u201d at Brands Hatch, some 30 miles southeast of London, is only 1.2 miles in length but with its variety of corners and characteristic elevation change will provide a stern challenge for over 70-plus competitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrands Hatch is a phenomenal track,\u201d said Craig, who has proved to be one of the fastest contenders in testing. \u201cMy favorite corner is definitely Turn One, Paddock Hill Bend, because of the huge elevation drop.
\n\u201cI\u2019m happy with the way testing has gone. I\u2019ve improved every session and I\u2019m looking forward to getting in race mode tomorrow. I feel very confident going into the weekend. I ended the final practice day with good pace. The drivers here at the Festival are so fast, so it\u2019s all about maximizing every little bit of the car set up and driving. I would love to bring home a podium for Team USA this weekend. It would mean a lot to me to get a good result at such a prestigious event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Craig and Mullan have impressed the Formula Ford regulars with their pace and versatility.<\/p>\n

\u201cTesting at Brands Hatch has been going really well,\u201d added Mullan. \u201cAlthough the track is small, it has a lot of intricacies that are hard to get right each time. Having lots of practice has really helped us become more consistent and feel very prepared for the racing tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to race in the Formula Ford Festival is an eye-opening experience. With such a high level of competition, it’ll be a difficult and very close race. The elimination style progression puts a lot of pressure on the drivers to finish up front every time. With plenty of practice under our belt, I’m positive that we\u2019ll be up in the standings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The field has been split into three Heat races, with Craig assigned to Heat Two and Mullan to Heat Three. Their 15-lap races are scheduled, respectively, for 4:20 and 4:50 local time (plus five hours from EDT) tomorrow afternoon (Saturday), following 15-minute practice sessions earlier in the day at 11:10 and 12:00. The schedule is subject to change. Live timing and scoring will be available at https:\/\/www.tsl-timing.com\/event\/184232<\/a>.<\/p>\n

About Team USA Scholarship<\/strong>:
\nThe program has been providing opportunities for talented American race car drivers at an early stage in their careers since 1990. Supporters include Doug Mockett & Company, the Road Racing Drivers Club and SAFEisFAST.com<\/a>, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, Mazda, Honda Performance Development, Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Catalina Furniture, Robertson Racing, Lucas Oil School of Racing, PitFit Training, RaceCraft1, CXC Simulations, Sparco USA, RACER Magazine, Speedstar Management, Styled Aesthetic and Manifest Group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BRANDS HATCH, England \u2013 After a successful \u201cwarmup\u201d race meeting last weekend at Donington Park and three days of testing this week at Brands Hatch, both Jake Craig and Colin Mullan feel well prepared as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4611,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4610"}],"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=4610"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4615,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4610\/revisions\/4615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}