MSA FORMULA FORD TITLE GOES TO JAYDE KRUGER
Champion Jayde Kruger with the national flag of South Africa. Photo: www.jakobebrey.com
Despite a resounding win for Harrison Scott in the final round of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain, it was Jayde Kruger who was crowned champion at Brands Hatch on Sunday afternoon, a measured drive to eighth place enough for the JTR EcoBoost Mygale driver to secure the title – provisionally – by a six-point margin.
Jayde, who earlier in the day claimed his 13th race victory of the season, adds the British crown to the two Formula Ford titles he won in his native South Africa. He is the JTR team’s third consecutive champion, following in the wheeltracks of Antti Buri and Dan Cammish.
The final championship results remain provisional pending an appeal to the MSA, by the Falcon Motorsport team following the incident in Round 29 involving Kruger and Scott which led to Scott’s retirement.
Said Jayde: “We’re happy and we’ll be celebrating, but we know that there is an appeal pending and we’ll have to deal with that when the time comes. I’m confident that the outcome will support the decision of the stewards of the meeting.”
Kruger came into the championship mid-way through 2013 and was soon competitive. He credits his multiple race-winning form of this season to his switch to JTR for 2014: “It was a good move to go with JTR; I think we made the best choice. We’ve had only one mechanical DNF and another non-finish because I got crashed out. Aside from that everything with the car has been pretty faultless… I gained a lot of knowledge last year about how everything works, and that’s been invaluable.”
Jayde hopes his championship success will lead to greater things in the sport, but possibly not in single-seaters: “I’d like to be racing something with a roof over my head, sports cars perhaps. Rather than carry on chasing a single-seater dream, I want to make a living racing cars, and the best route to that is in GTs. I have no plans to return to South Africa: when motorsport is what you live for, you have to be in the UK where the opportunities are.”
For full reports on how all three of the weekend’s races unfolded visit www.britishformulaford.co.uk