Chipping Norton’s Sean Walkinshaw is eyeing a push for his first podium of the EuroFormula Open campaign when the pan-European championship heads to Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit this coming weekend, 19th/20th July, for rounds nine and 10 of the season.
Relishing the prospect of returning to action at his local track, especially off the back of a string of four consecutive points scoring finishes, the Campos Racing driver is confident of mounting a realistic challenge for the rostrum having taken a career-best top five finish last time out in Hungary.
The 20-year-old has certainly made significant progress in his second season in the EuroFormula Open, having laid strong foundations last year when he became a multiple podium finisher in the Copa Class for previous generation cars.
So far in 2014 at the wheel of his striking white Dallara F312, Sean has been consistently increasing his pace in the headline championship with every race weekend – particularly in qualifying where he has made superb steps since the beginning of the season.
“I’m really looking forward to being back at Silverstone, it’s always great to race on home soil and after such a strong performance in Hungary, confidence in the team is high”, said the Oxfordshire racer, “We need to get it right in qualifying, over the last few race weekends we’ve made some big steps there so hopefully we can put the car on the first couple of rows at Silverstone.
“We’ve definitely got a realistic chance of challenging for the podium at the weekend, as long as we can have a trouble-free run in practice on Thursday and Friday we should be in good shape. It’ll be a big weekend with a lot of family and friends coming along, so hopefully we’ll be able to take home some silverware.”
Just over a week ago at the Hungaroring, Sean battled the effects of flu to chalk-up his fourth and fifth points finishes of 2014 and is determined to continue that momentum when the EuroFormula Open makes its annual visit to the UK a few days from now. Going into the event, Sean is equal 11th in the championship standings and only 10 points shy of the top eight.
Three practice sessions will take place on Thursday, 17th July, with three more on Friday, 18th July, ahead of the round nine qualifying session and first race of the weekend on Saturday, 19th July, at 09.45 and 14.00 respectively. On Sunday, 20th July, round 10 qualifying will begin at 09.00 with the race set to follow at 11.30. Both encounters will be live on Motors TV – check listings for details.
Provisional 2014 EuroFormula Open Standings (after Rd8):
=11th Sean Walkinshaw & Nicolas Pohler, 24pts
Provisional 2014 Spanish F3 Championship Standings (after Rd4):
10th Sean Walkinshaw, 13pts