2014  International & Single Seater News News of WRDA members who are competing in the International & Single Seater arena.

Seb Morris snatches 3rd place in the Formula Renault NEC after a storming pair of drives! (and some luck with the weather)  

(report by Marc Orme &  Rob Allender)  (Photos by Insight F1 Motorsport Report)

 First on track on Friday in the 2014 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup , was Seb Morris, in a race held over after it was rained off in Most in Hungary! Starting the race 15 points behind Dutch driver Steijn Schothorst, who was then in 3^rd in the points standings; Seb lined-up on the second row of the grid and after making a great start, he climbed into third place and then set about applying pressure to Kevin Jorg before passing the Swiss driver on lap three. Immediately pulling clear of Jorg, Seb set his sights on race leader Andrea Pizzitola, and although they drew away from the chasing pack, they were very evenly matched and Seb had to settle for a nonetheless impressive second place! Schothorst, meanwhile slumped to finish in 11^th place, and this allowed Seb to cut the gap between himself & Schosthort to a single point!

In Saturdays race Seb made a good start from 6^th on the grid and although he had Ben Barnicoat and Pizzitola in his sights, the key challenge was to keep Schothorst behind him for the duration – which he achieved! This meant that Seb was now 3^rd in the championship with a crucial one point advantage over Schothorst! However with Schothorst several places ahead of him on the gird for Sundays final round, Seb therefore was being realistic when he said ‘I may have a chance to make up some places if it rains on Sunday!’ However the fickle Eifel Mountain weather closed in to swing the situation in Sebs favour, as fog covered the track, leaving the organisers no other option but the cancel the race!

This gave Seb a well deserved 3^rd in the championship, on his European debut in the ultra-competitive NEC category, the 18-year-old Fortec Motorsport driver made a huge impact against incredibly tough opposition and concludes the campaign with a tally of two race victories and three other podiums!  Speaking afterwards Seb commented “Obviously I’d have liked to have won the championship but considering where we were mid-season, (when Fortec stripped the chassis to fix an underlying problem) and to come back to third in the standings is pretty amazing from both me and the team. I think I’ve been the top points scorer out of any of the drivers since Assen, it’s nice to end the season well and to have made a big impact over the last few races.

(photo left - The Fortec team celebrate their drivers success with Ben & Seb)

 Everyone remembers how you finish a season and a championship, so hopefully that will stand us in good stead for next year. I’d like to carry on in single-seaters and move up the ladder but we need to raise the budget to make that happen so the hard work starts now. I’d like to say a huge thank you to my fantastic sponsors for this year and, of course, to Caterham. Finishing in the coveted top three in the standings also brings another reward: “For the top three finish I have been awarded a test day in a Formula Renault 3.5 ‘World Series by Renault’ car and I am really looking forward to utilising that, hopefully it’ll be a taster of things to come!” 

(N.B Ben Barnicoat, whose car is also run by Fortec, was the Championship winner! Fortec finished 2^nd in the Teams Championship!)

Seb is part of the Caterham Racing Academy and is supported by the Jack Wills ‘Young Briton’ programme, and is a TAG Heuer & Oxford Vaughan ambassador and Elite Cymru supported driver.

2014 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup Standings (after 15 of 16 rounds):

1st Ben Barnicoat,  258 points, 2nd Louis Deletraz, 241 points, 3rd Seb Morris, 224 points