14 year old racing driver Lochlan Bearman was racing at the Anglesey Circuit in north Wales at the weekend and looking to move up to 2nd in the Championship.
Having made major improvements to his car at Silverstone and running in the top 4 all weekend with fastest lap in race 2, he was confident of another good weekend at Angelsey.
“It’s a fantastic track with big changes in elevation, some unusual camber changes and a section called the corkscrew which is great fun to drive and a technical challenge and it’s right next to the sea”, said the Phoenix FM-sponsored Driver.
The Essex racer was fast in practice on Friday and Saturday and expectations were high for a good weekend.
During qualifying a fault appeared with the car’s “brain”, the ECU, and resulted in lost power. In spite of this, Bearman still qualified 4th and the team cleared the fault with their diagnostic tools. As the lights went out and the race started, Bearman’s car appeared stranded and slowly crawled away. He immediately pitted with the same problem and effectively his race was over. The team were unable to clear the fault and Bearman had to complete the race nearly 4 seconds a lap off the pace and consequently finished last.
The team worked during the period before race 2 and changed and cleaned many electrical components but as soon as Bearman left the pit lane the problem resurfaced. Although he managed to gain 2 places during the 1st lap he was helpless to defend his position and dropped off the pack, and had no option but to lap on his own and way off the pace finishing in last place again.
“This has been my worst experience so far in car racing. We looked to be in such a good position but it was all taken away and there was nothing I could do. I happens in racing but it is still incredibly hard to take and to loose both races has really damaged by Championship position. It was a very long drive home!
“However, I will take the positives, that I know I can compete for wins. We now need to get the car fixed before the final meeting of the season at Brands Hatch on October 23rd. It would be great to have some local support so please come down an come and say hello”, said Bearman.