TWO of Scotland's most promising young racing drivers filled two of the top three places in the grand final of the Formula Vauxhall Junior Winter Series at Croft
Circuit near Darlington yesterday, the happiest being Marino Franchitti, brother of Scots Indycar driver, Dario.
The 20-year-old, in his first major championship race since overcoming a 19-month bout of glandular fever, produced the performance of the day in the slippery conditions.
Driving the 145-horsepower
single-seater, he carved through the 14-strong field to finish third having slipped to last after spinning at the opening corner.
''I'm not sure what happened at the first corner but there was
definitely contact and suddenly I found myself back in last place,'' he said, ''but I got my head back together and started picking the cars off one by one.''
Watched by his big brother, and 24-hour Le Mans winner Allan McNish from Dumfries, Franchitti finished second best newcomer behind Stefan Hodgetts.
The English 16-year-old's prize is a full year contesting the 1999 Formula Vauxhall Championship, while Franchitti collected free entry to half the season.
The race was won by Blairgowrie's Gavin Pyper who
contested this year's Formula Vauxhall Championship. ''It's nice to get a win under my belt,'' the 19-year-old admitted.
''This weekend was all about getting some more experience and hopefully I can build on it for next year.''
Pyper capitalised on the
misfortune of Lanarkshire's John Dalziel who was leading the race when his car ground to a halt after suffering a fuel pump failure. Results:
(Top 3) 1, Gavin Pyper (Blairgowrie) Formula Vauxhall Junior 29mins 06.616secs; 2, (n) Stefan Hodgetts (Redditch) Formula Vauxhall Junior 29:10.338; 3, (n) Marino Franchitti (Bathgate) Formula Vauxhall Junior 29:42.353.
Fastest lap - Pyper (lap 17) 1min 25.555secs, 95.28mph.
(n) - denotes newcomer.
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