Louise Richardson headed to Norfolk to race in the latest rounds of the the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain.
Louise, who is studying at Aston University, took two scholarship class podiums at the previous rounds at Croft and she hoped for more of the same this time.
Unusually for Louise in recent times, her budget had allowed her to take part in Friday testing and this really boosted her confidence in her family run Mygale.
Qualifying saw a slight hiccup when she spun off during the session but she still took eighth on the grid ahead of Juan Rosso, a race winner this season.
Race one proved to be a frustrating time for her though and she dropped places to take tenth at the flag, not what she had been hoping for.
Any hopes that race two would be better were dashed when she spun early in the race and dropped to the back of the field. A charging drive though, saw her take ninth at the flag.
So all hopes of a good result now lay with race three.
This time Louise made a great start and closely followed Rosso as well as fending off Chris Mealin behind her. Although she could get past Rosso she took the flag in seventh place overall taking another third place in the scholarship class. This was her best result of her season so far.
Despite missing half the rounds so far, Louise is twelfth in the overall championship and fifth in the scholarship class.
“It’s good to finish the weekend on a positive note,” she said. “It hasn’t been easy and I’ve made a few mistakes on track, but that is because I’ve not had the time in the car that everyone else has and I’m still trying to find the limits of its performance. Unfortunately, I overstepped the mark a few times this weekend and it cost me.
“The team [Richardson Racing] has done everything I asked this weekend, and gave me a boost when I needed it after race two, when my head went down a bit. We worked to improve the car for race three and it felt a lot better, which meant I had more confidence and was able to push harder.
“To race with Juan and Chris like that was good and a further boost to my confidence. Hopefully when we get to Knockhill, I’ll be able to race with the midfield pack and try to build on my result here.” by Marc Waller
