LDR: End of Season Round Up 2021
As the team recovers after an exciting final weekend at Snetterton, let’s take a look back on the last few races of the BRSCC National Championship ahead of the Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy in just a few weeks time!
In August LDR took to the track at Brands Hatch! In Race 1 Max Esterson did a great job and landed a P2 finish, after a knock Colin Queen also impressed, managing to work his way up from P10 to P6. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Andre Lafond’s day. He sustained some contact and sadly was unable to finish the race, meaning that for Race 2 he would start in P17. At Race 2 there was some more bad luck for team LDR with both Max and Colin not finishing the race. Andre really pushed hard throughout Race 2, managing to work his way back up the grid - but again, some bad luck meant that he spun late on and got knocked back a few spots to P12. But, it wasn’t over yet! Race 3 arrived and with great results! Max and Colin fought their way from the very back of the grid to secure P6 and P7 respectively, whilst Andre grabbed P13! Colin stated, ‘There are definitely some key takeaways from this weekend, and hopefully we will get much better results at Oulton Park in September.’
And onto Oulton Park it was! Race 1 saw LDR grab some excellent results with Max securing P2, Colin taking P8 and Andre finishing P11. In Race 2 Max took another P2, making it his 12th podium out of 16 this season! Andre secured an impressive P7 finish, but unfortunately Colin was a DNF due to a big hit late in the race - which also meant he was unable to compete in Race 3. Andre also went off in the race early on meaning it was a DNF for him. Max - who started in P7 due to the reverse grid - landed a solid P4 finish! After the weekend Andre said, ‘The rain came down hard for Race 3. A spin meant an aggravating DNF. Regardless, I took some large steps in the right direction, improving every time I am able to spend time on track.’
Then, after a few Champion Of races and some testing, LDR were back at Snetterton! This time with new addition, Team USA scholarship winner Andre Castro. After two days of testing the team headed out on a surprisingly sunny Norfolk morning for qualifying which saw Max Esterson start Race 1 in P5, Andre Lafond P8, Colin Queen P12 and Andre Castro P14. In the afternoon the guys took to the track and secured a P6 finish (Max), P9 (Andre Castro), P12 (Andre Lafond) and a DNF (Colin).
On Sunday morning came Race 2 and a whole lot of excitement! Max worked hard and managed to secure a podium spot in P3, Colin also worked his way up from P16 to an awesome P5, overtaking Formula Ford powerhouse Niall Murray in the last few minutes of the race. Andre Castro also impressed and landed a P8 finish, starting on pole for Race 3 due to the reverse grid. Sadly Andre Lafond was a DNF.
Race 3 saw Colin securing another impressive P5, Max P8 and Andre Lafond P9! Unfortunately, despite a great start, Andre Castro was a DNF. As the last race of the National, this sealed the results for the championship and saw Max take third place overall! He said, ‘While I didn't win the championship, being in the fight until the last race in my rookie year is a huge achievement and one of the goals I set out to achieve. Congrats to both Chris (Middlehurst) and Alex (Walker) for providing great competition throughout the year! There are definitely some things I would've done differently looking back at the season now, but I think the entire Low Dempsey Racing team and I should be really proud of our efforts. The team gave me a car that could fight for wins in every race and we had no mechanical issues in 20 races. While I'm disappointed that we didn't end up on the top step, our speed and reliability gave me 2 wins, a pole position, qualified on the front-row three weekends out of seven, had 13 podiums, and scored the most points in the championship before drop scores… Definitely a season to remember!’
