Louise Richardson and her family team were at Silverstone in Northamptonshire for the penultimate three races in the inaugural MSA Formula Season.
After some success in the mid-season, Louise has had some bad luck in recent rounds and she hoped to have a better weekend this time.
Practice went okay and Louise was hopeful for qualifying and set a time only 8 tenths off pole but with the super competitive field, this left her in 14th for race one.
A mostly uneventful race saw her finish in fifteenth place, which became fourteenth in the results after the Disqualification from the weekend of Daniel Ticktum after he had a controversial collison with a rival in race three. She was struggling with understeer on the car.
Louise hoped for more progress in race two but sadly things still weren’t right with the car and a lack of grip saw her fall down the field as the race got underway. The car did improve slightly as the race went on and she battled back up to fifteenth at the flag. Unfortunately Louise was among a number of drivers to receive a penalty for exceeding track limits and this dropped her back to seventeenth which then became sixteenth in the final results once Ticktum was again removed.
Louise qualified in 14th place for the opening race of the weekend around the short National Circuit and a solid drive would see her rewarded with 15th spot at the finish; with the focus being on pushing forwards for race two.
Louise and the team hoped they had the car sorted for race three and it proved to be the case as it was driving better than ever as Louise fought her way through one of the most dramatic and eventful races of the season with several runners colliding. Louise stayed out of trouble and fought her way up the field and took fifth at the flag. She was just behind fourth place and her lap times had been quicker. If the race had been longer she would have made a further positon.
She now has just three races remaining in her season all at Brands Hatch on 10th and 11th October. She’s hoping to end the season on a high at a circuit she loves. She explained how her Silverstone weekend had gone and how much she was looking forward to the finale;
“It’s been a bit of a tough weekend and we really struggled to nail the set-up on the car to really push towards the front,” she said. “In race one and race two, it made things tough and it was just a case of us trying to stay out of trouble and make up places where we could.
“The same was true to an extent in race three as there was a lot of carnage out there on track and some drivers weren’t driving with their heads, but the set-up was a lot better and we were more competitive as a result.
“We’ve come away from the weekend with a top five finish which is a positive, and hopefully when we get to Brands Hatch – which is a circuit I love – we’ll be able to challenge for that kind of result on merit and end the season on a high.”
