Buri beats the weather at Brands Hatch

After a five week break from the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain, Finnish racing driver Antti Buri strengthened his 2011 championship charge with a visit to the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit (18-19^th June).  

On a weekend dominated by unpredictable weather Antti again paid a visit to the podium, as he battled for that illustrious first win in the British championship.

Saturday’s activities began with qualifying and after a rain shower before the session, a damp track added to the challenge. Accompanied by a half wet and half dry set-up on his Mygale SJ11 single-seater, Antti took to the track before recording the eighth fastest time. “The rain just before qualifying caught us out a bit,” said Antti. “It was difficult to know exactly how to set the car up in the mixed circumstances so we combined the options with half wet and half dry. Unfortunately it didn’t really pay off as the track dried out.”

The first race came later on Saturday, and still the weather was to play an important role. Antti soon fought his way up to fourth place, however as he chased down the trio in front of him the rain intervened. A heavy downpour forced the red flag, haltering the race early on.

As the restart came around the LMS Racing ace enjoyed a remarkable getaway, when he launched up to second place as the field hit Paddock Hill Bend (turn one). From here he sampled a lonely race, as he fought to narrow down the gap to race leader Scott Malvern.

The second race was an attention grabber for Antti, as the 22 year old found himself in a five way fight for honours. After starting sixth on the grid this time around, he muscled his way up to fourth. Sadly the top three had escaped by this point meaning Antti would have to settle for fourth place, as the championship points kept rolling in.

Sunday saw the sole race encounter start under the beam of the sunshine. A sixth place grid slot saw Antti take up position, as the 30 car field weaved its way around the infamous circuit.

As with the first race, the rain again intruded when Antti found himself in fourth place. After a brief race stoppage the action was soon back underway, until Antti’s race came to an abrupt end. A hit to the rear of his Formula Ford sent him cascading off the track, leaving him to watch the final lap from the sidelines.

Despite his weekend ending on a low note, Antti was still able to smile: “It was a good weekend really. It’s a shame about the final race, as if I’d have finished I would have moved to third in the championship, but up until that point we had some good results. I was pleased to get another podium finish, hopefully next time it’ll be the top step of the podium.”

After briefly heading back to Finland, Antti’s next race will be at the renowned Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, over the 8^th-9^th July, as part of the Formula Ford Eurocup.

Commenting on the event, Antti said: “I’m looking forward to Spa, I think we could do well there. We should have a few new parts coming before then. Our straight line speed is good so hopefully we can benefit from that at Spa.”