What Walter Hayes Trophy Formula Ford Festival Preview
Where Silverstone, England.
When 4-5 November 2023
Community International
Four Investchem Formula 1600 champions among five
A strong five-man South African team is en route to England to race for the prestigious Walter Hayes Trophy. The team comprising four Investchem Formula 1600 champions, returns to the UK to race against drivers from around the world in the annual international Formula Ford races at the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit over the weekend of 4 and 5 November.
Double South African Global Touring Car champion and multiple former Formula 1600 champion Robert Wolk swaps his Chemical Logistics BMW M 128 ti for one of the team’s nimble Formula Fords. He’s joined by fellow GTC racers and former Formula 1600 champions, Julian van der Watt and Andrew Rackstraw in the Ian Schofield-run squad.
2022 SA Investchem Formula 1600 champion and 2023 Audi GTC pilot, Josh Le Roux and current Investchem Formula 1600 racer Andrew Schofield comprise the second two-man South African squad run by Kevin Mills Racing. All five drivers will be supported by a mostly South African pit crew.
The five South Africans return to the Walter Hayes Trophy looking to improve on successful campaigns last year. Three of them made it through the 2022 Grand Final, where Robert Wolk fared best to finish eighth, while Julian van der Watt ended up eleventh and Josh Le Roux fought back from well back in the pack to an impressive 15th.
The world’s biggest Formula Ford 1600 weekend, the Walter Hayes Trophy attracts drivers to Silverstone from across the planet. Over 100 entries will line up in an epic weekend of wheel-to-wheel racing famously subjected to all form of terribly wet and cold November Blighty weather.
The action commences with a frantic day of qualifying races on Saturday to pare the field down ahead of Sunday’s knockout rounds. Only 36 cars will qualify the Sunday afternoon Grand Final, the winner of which will lift the prestigious Walter Hayes Trophy.
Issued on behalf of Investchem Formula 1600
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