On the 17th and 18th August, Ben made his single seater debut racing a Formula Renault car in the Silverstone round of the Monoposto Racing Championship.

Racing in some of the largest fields in British motorsport round the full Grand Prix circuit, Ben had the chance to experience the challenge of driving a single seat racing car through such famous corners as Maggots and Beckets and along the Hangar Straight where he reached speeds in excess of 160mph.

Ben was able to drive several test sessions of the Friday to get used to the car although the weather was atrocious and the track was eventually closed due to flooding. However, this was enough to prepare him for qualifying on the Saturday where he managed to put his car 29th out of 52 cars. In races like this the cars are divided into different classes based on their speed and power and, comparing his result with others in his class, Ben was 7th out of 14 cars which was a very positive outcome bearing in mind his lack of experience.

The first race went well with the opportunity to make a number of overtaking moves and improve on his lap time. Ben finished in 20th position and maintained his 7th in class which was a great result for his first single seat race.

The Sunday race was much more challenging because all of the cars were set up for a dry race but unfortunately heavy rain started falling literally just as the cars were doing their warm up lap. If you can imagine driving your car on sheet ice, this is what racing in the wet on slick tyres is like. However, Ben has always been very good in the wet, learnt from his karting days, and he was able to move forward from his starting position of 19th. Finishing in 14th place was a tremendous result and showed incredible car control in unbelievably difficult conditions.

Overall Ben’s first experience of single seat racing was a huge success and showed that he can perform at a very high level in a range of different cars. It also helps keep him ready for his next Euro NASCAR outing which is at Hockenheim in Germany on the 21st and 22nd of September.