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EDWARDS TUNES UP FOR SUNDAY'S WINTER SERIES FINALE
Mixed Results for Team USA Trio in Today's Brands Hatch Test
Fresh from scoring a pair of victories at Snetterton last Sunday,
Paul
Edwards was fastest throughout most of today's Formula Palmer
Audi test
session at Brands Hatch, England. The 21-year-old American is
now brimming
with confidence prior to Sunday's double-header race meeting at
the famed
track situated some 25 miles southeast of London.
Edwards posted his best lap of 44.5s toward the end of the
afternoon, after the circuit had dried out following some overnight
rain.
His best was narrowly eclipsed by local hero Tom Sisley (a graduate
of the
British Formula Ford Championship) in the waning moments, but
Edwards
remained content.
"I feel good and I'm happy with the car," said Edwards, from Santa
Maria, Calif., who won last year's EFDA Formula Opel Winter Series
in the
colors of the Valvoline Team USA Scholarship and is bidding to
add to his
burgeoning reputation by clinching the four-race Formula Palmer
Audi Winter
Series. "I'm pretty confident going into the weekend. I know all
I really
need to do is finish ahead of the other [top] two [contenders]
to win the
championship, but I still want to win."
Fellow Team USA Scholarship winners Andy Lally and Jeff Simmons
logged the seventh and ninth fastest times, respectively, among
the 22-car
field.
"I struggled quite a bit after lunch and just couldn't quite get
it
together, but I just sat down and thought things through, made
some changes
to the setup, and found quite a bit of time," related Lally, 24,
from
Northport, N.Y., who improved to 44.8s on his final run. "I feel
pretty
good because I know there's more time in me and we're quite close
to the
front-running pace. One tenth of a second faster would have put
me fourth.
I know I can improve."
Simmons, 23, from Granby, Conn., endured another tough day, which
included a late start due to an electrical glitch and then a spin
at
Surtees bend which resulted in some damage to the left-front corner
of his
Van Diemen chassis. (Incidentally, his incident during the second
race at
Snetterton last Sunday almost certainly was caused by a broken
rear
anti-roll bar.)
"I feel bad for my mechanics, having the fix my car all the time,"
said Simmons, who posted a best time of 45.1s. "I can't remember
the last
time I crashed on my own. It's not that the car's difficult to
drive. I
just can't get the car the way I like it. Every change I make
seems to have
the opposite effect to what I expect. It's frustrating, but I'll
sit down
with Paul and Andy and try to figure it out for Sunday."
All three drivers took a little time during the lunch break today
to undertake a photo-shoot with their trio of Team USA Scholarship
cars,
which have attracted tremendous interest for their patriotic red,
white and
blue livery featuring support from Valvoline, CART, Tasman Motorsports,
Audi, PacWest Racing, Mercedes-Benz USA, Road Racing Drivers Club,
Klein
Tools, Skip Barber Racing School, No Fear and Mitel Semiconductor.
Formula Palmer Audi Winter Series Championship positions after
two of four
races: 1, Paul Edwards (USA), 48pts; 2, Paul Munn (GB), 38; 3,
Adam Carroll
(IRL), 36; 4, Martin Rihs (A), 31; 5, Jeff Simmons (USA) & Paul
Rozalowsky
(CDN), 24. |