Dave Parks makes saloon car debut at Brands Hatch FFord Festival (Rob Parks)

The 2017 Formula Sheane champion Dave Parks made his saloon car debut at the formula ford festival this weekend at the ex formula one circuit that is Brands Hatch. Dave was racing Vertical Racing team boss Robbie Parks’s RT2000 Irish Supercar run by Alan Kessie

The weekend started well when Dave managed to qualify P4 on the grid in the manual gearbox car. This was Dave’s first saloon car drive and first time driving at Brands Hatch in 10 years- when he set the lap record in the Formula Sheane class, which still stands!

Race one was an interesting one when Dave got a solid start and managed to battle his way up the pack in the purple Irish Supercar. After some amazing battles and some seriously brave moves going through Paddock bend Dave managed to secure P3.

Dave: “Yeah, I’m delighted to get a podium in my first ever saloon car race, it’s for sure a challenge and a totally different type of racing but it was very enjoyable”

Race two began as a rolling start for the first time! Because Dave was in a manual gearbox car he was swamped in a straight line by all the sequential cars but still fought hard to keep up. Coming down Paddock hill for the first time in race two, a mistake with tyre choice saw Dave take a spin, but he soon recovered to make it back up and take P3 all over again.

All in all it was a great weekend for the Formula Sheane champion and an “extremely fun experience trying something different and especially on such a fantastic circuit here at Brands!”

Dave: “Biggest of thanks have to go to all the team at ASK Racing and to my brother Robbie for letting me drive his car all weekend”

Might we see more of Dave at these English circuits in different cars ? Only time will tell!