Chris Pennington - Track Record

In March 2002, Chris Pennington starts his fifth year of single seater racing as the reigning champion of the Southern Formula Ford Championship, (Formerly known as the Kent County Championship). The prestigious Number "1" which is only reserved for current champions, will be proudly displayed on his newly purchased Mygale Zetec Formula Ford racing car.

A boy hood passion for all things to do with motorsport, in fact all things motorised, finally materialised into mainline motorsport in 1998 with the purchase of a championship winning Van Dieman RF90 Formula Ford 1600 race car. The 1998 season was the first chance Chris had to put into practice the lessons learnt from graduating from the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School in 1990.

Qualifying 12th on the grid and racing to a respectable 8th and points finish in his first ever race set up an exciting first year. Raw speed was evident from the beginning but a lack of experience which translated into lack of consistency, meant more top ten results were marred by a number of spins. The first season's racing ended with a 4th place, just missing out on the podium, and the promise of things to come. 1999 built on the lessons learnt in the previous year. Four podium finishes, three thirds and a second and a top 5 championship result set Chris up for a serious championship attack in 2000.

The key to winning a championship is consistency as well as speed. 2000 proved to be an epic battle between the young Australian professional driver Brett Francis and Chris Pennington. In spite of Pennington's 100% top 3 podium finishing record, Brett took the championship with the more consistent winning streak. Two race wins, nine second places, a third and a second in the overall championship established Chris as one of the leading front-runners in Southern Formula Ford 1600 racing.

2001 brought a determination to go one better than the previous year. Early pre-season testing saw improvements in both the car's set up and Chris's driving. The lap times in testing bolstered optimism in both the driver and the team. This proved to be well founded as Chris enjoyed a dream start to the 2001 season. Eight straight wins and seven fastest race laps secured Chris at the top of the points championship table. Even a serious crash at Lydden Hill, where Chris was catapulted into a roll by an errant backmarker, couldn't stop Chris's championship charge. He was crowned champion at Castle Combe on 16th September 2001 with 1 round still remaining.

In 2002, Chris moved up to the Formula Ford Zetec class. These cars have more power and slick tyres and proved an exciting challenge. Chris acquired the 2001 Formula Ford World Championship winning car which was driven by Alan Van Der Merwe. This car was run and maintained by Lindfield Racing, an established front-running Formula Ford Zetec team. Chris achieved second place in the championship that year.

2003 saw Chris having a well deserved rest from the championship, and concentrating on his job and other hobbies.

In 2004, Chris started his first season in Formula Palmer Audi as a ‘Rookie’ driver. In three of his first four races, he was awarded the Normondale cup, which is presented to the fastest finishing rookie driver. (He finished 5th in all three races).

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