Jayde Kruger from Edenvale has provisionally won the Dunlop MSA British Formula Ford Championship at Brands Hatch. Kruger finished in eighth place in the 30th and final race of the championship, which consisted of 10 rounds of 3 races each. He finished fourth in Saturday’s round 28, which was won by title rival, British driver Harrison Scott, but came back to win round 29 on Sunday morning, which Scott did not finish after the pair had tangled during the race which resulted in Scott’s retirement.
The British driver protested Kruger’s win to the stewards of the meeting, who then ruled in the South African’s favour. However, Scott and his team have appealed the decision, hence the provisional status of the championship win. Scott won the final race but Kruger, by virtue of a 22-point advantage at the start, could afford to finish no lower than 11th, and eighth place was enough to clinch the title.
“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,” said Kruger afterwards.
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, sportscars 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.”
Kruger’s final tally of wins for the season was 13 in the 30 races he started, an impressive achievement and he is the first South African to clinch the British Formula Ford title since Trevor van Rooyen in 1977. Formula Ford to this day retains its status as arguably one of the most important breeding grounds for international motorsport superstardom, whether in single-seaters or sportscar racing.
The 26-year-old Kruger joins other South African drivers Jordan Pepper and Kelvin van der Linde who also won titles on international soil in 2014.
Images: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Provisional championship standings British Formula Ford
1 Jayde Kruger (SA) 717 points
2 Harrison Scott (ENG) 711
3 Ashley Sutton (ENG) 567
4 Juan Rosso (ARG) 561
