Silverstone hosted the penultimate round of the BTCC-supporting MSA F4 British Championship at the weekend but for Fortec Motorsport driver Frank Bird, he missed out on adding to his points tally
after a tough three races.
Driving the Be Wiser, Hager and Frank Bird Poultry-backed car, the Penrith-born 17-year-old was hoping to bounce back after missing out at the previous round at Rockingham which followed a brilliant run of races in mid-season which saw him regularly in the points.
Changeable weather conditions during qualifying made it difficult but he ended up qualifying in an impressive 11th place before a decent start in the opening race saw his hopes dashed when he was forced wide on the opening lap and dropped back to finish 15th.
Old tyres for race two meant he could finish no higher than 16th and following a few mistakes in the third and final race, he missed out on the points again when he brought the car home in his best finish of 13th.
Now Frank’s focus turns to the final round at Brands Hatch early next month whereby he hopes to end the season in positive fashion with a repeat of his points scoring races from earlier in the season.
Frank Bird: “On Saturday, qualifying started off wet but it was starting to dry up so we took the gamble and went for slicks. It was starting to pay off as it was getting dryer throughout the session but then the rain hit and we had to pit for wets with not much time remaining. Still I managed to put a
decent lap time in and qualify 11th. In race one, I made a great start and got up to seventh by the second corner but then got pushed wide and dropped back to 14th and then stayed there for a bit until getting pushed wide again and finishing in 15th. In the second race, I started 14th and made a good start and stayed in 14th for most of the race but really struggled on the old tyres making lots of mistakes and finishing in 16th. For race three, I started 14th but didn’t have the best of starts dropping into 16th but had a hard battle all the way through to finish in 13th. I’m now looking forward to the season finale at Brands Hatch.”
For further information, please visit www.pbmuk.net and www.fiaformula4.com.
Pictures (courtesy of Jakob Ebrey Photography)
Notes to Editors:
Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM) are winners of over 170 races in British Superbike Championship, MotoGP CRT, World Superbike Championship, 125cc, 250cc, Supersport British Championships, Superstock National Championships, Isle of Man TT, North West 200, Daytona, Macau GP, and British domestic races. Points scorers in 125cc, 250cc and 500cc GPs, Points scorers in World Supersport, podium finishers in WSB, Superpole winners in World Superbike. Paul Bird is a former National Rally Champion and multiple runner up on both gravel and tarmac championships. Frank Bird raced Ginettas last year before graduating to the MSA F4 British Championship this season. They are based at Langwathby near Penrith in Cumbria.
