14 year old Essex racing driver Lochlan Bearman went into the final meeting of 2016 hoping to clinch 3rd place in the Championship in what was his first season of car racing.

At the last round in Anglesey, Wales an ECU fault meant he was massively down on power and he had to just complete the 2 races to collect championships points. “That really hurt my position but I still had a good chance to score well at Brands” he said.

Difficulties in tracking down the fault in Bearman’s race car meant he needed to hire a car to ensure there was not a repetition of the issue. Trying the new car for the first time on Thursday, Bearman was happy with the car and getting used to Brands Hatch for the first time. “We were progressing well with each session”, Lochlan commented. Despite an issue with the car which prevented further practise Bearman was confident of a good showing.

Saturday morning was very cold and the PhoenixFM driver was running on old tyres but was 9th quickest of the 19 drivers. “We were 6 tenths off the quickest time but my tyres were finished” said the schoolboy – he felt confident once new tyres went on for qualifying.

However, qualifying turned out to be anything but positive. “The balance of the car completely changed and it just wouldn’t turn into the corners and I was fighting with massive understeer”. The problem was so severe that Bearman was 7 tenths slower than in the morning. The team tried to alter the car mid qualifying but it only made a small improvement. Bearman ended in 16th place – the first time all season he had qualified outside of the top 10.

Dramatic changes were made to the car for race 1 on Sunday. As the red lights went out and the race got underway Bearman made an explosive start and was the middle car as they went round Paddock Hill three-a-breast. The car on the outside turned into Bearman and trapped him in the middle. The inside car was then forced into a spin. Bearman was already minus both wing mirrors but managed to hold on and continue to Druids Hairpin. It was a chaotic first lap with lots of incidents. Bearman managed to navigate through the crashing cars to complete lap 1 in 9th position.

The youngster then seemed to get into a rhythm, but his car was still not performing well. The understeer was still bad and it also felt down on power. On lap 10, car 38 caught him as they went along the strait. Bearman held the inside through Paddock and also for the hairpin. As they went through the hairpin 38 ran into the back quarter of Bearman’s car and caused a half spin, which he held, but then was forced onto the grass where he hit the barrier before spinning round. Lochlan’s race was finished with bad damage to his car. Whilst the driver of car 38 was excluded from the results for the incident it meant Bearman was classified 13th overall and lost points in the battle for 3rd in the Championship.

The team worked hard to rebuild the car which had body, suspension and steering damage.

Bearman was out in time for race 2 with his car patched up and looking very second hand. Again he made a good start and was up to 8th at the end of lap 1 but on lap 3 pitted as he felt there was something wrong with the car. He returned to the track but was quickly back in again. “It felt as if the suspension or a wheel was loose” said Bearman. He continued lapping in order to secure championship points but was not classified in the results.

“It’s been a massive disappointment over the last 2 races” he said. “We were looking good for 3rd, possibly 2nd heading into Anglesey and it all seems to have gone wrong from there.

At the start of the season the objective was a top 10, but we realised we are fast enough and so that become a top 5 target. When I look back over the season I’ve been on the podium, I’ve set fastest lap, I held a lap record for 1 race, and I was leading at Snetterton with 7 seconds to go before a power steering pump pipe split.

I came from the back of the grid to 3rd in the wet at Silverstone and from the back of the grid to 5th at Castle Coombe. We’ve had quite a lot of bad luck and yet have still finished in the top 5” (it may be 4th but I need to see the results).

“It’s been an incredible experience to race on full circuits, to be in the F1 garages at Silverstone and be part of what has been a really close Championship and I’ve learned so much. I’m proud to have been supported by PhoenixFM throughout 2016 and to represent the station at all the circuits we’ve visited this year.

Now I am looking forward to 2017. I need sponsorship to have a really good go at winning in 2017 so if you want to get involved, bring staff, clients and friends to the races and be part of the 2017 title attempt please contact me at bearman.racing@gmail.com”