Looking to kickstart his open wheel racing career, American Caleb Gafrarar traveled to the United Kingdom this past weekend and returned to the USA a winner. Competing at Lydden Hill in the third round of the United Formula Ford program, Gafrarar earned a pair of top-five results, including a trip to the top step of the podium in his series debut.
“Pretty cool to leave Lydden Hill with my name in the history books,” expressed Gafrarar. “To become the youngest United Formula Ford driver to win in the history of the series, and to match what James Hunt did winning his first Formula Ford race at this venue is amazing. A huge thank you to everyone who made this possible, especially Ammonite Motorsports for the help, support, and coaching to make my Formula Ford debut a success.”
After qualifying fourth for the first wheel-to-wheel action of the weekend, Gafrarar had a great start, moving right into the second position. Continuing to put pressure on the leader, he was able to move his way forward and take the lead. Overcoming a caution period and restart like a veteran, the young American drove off to take the win by more than two seconds with the fastest lap of the race. Just receiving his FIA car racing license three days prior made him the youngest winner of the FF1600 series. Starting in the pole position for race two, Gafarar fell to eighth on the start but was able to muscle his way back forward to finish fourth.
Gafrarar addd, “I am happy with my performance. Having never raced in an FF1600 before, or at this track, or even with this team, I think the results were what I could have expected. Unfortunate to have the issue at the start of race two and fall back to P8, but at least I was able to show my race craft and move my way through the field. I look forward to coming back to the UK for future FF1600 races.”
Caleb would like to thank Ammonite Motorsports, Bell Helmets, Molecule, Racing Electronics and Circle K. He and his management program are working on the remainder of the season in the FF1600 series in the UK, along with his cars and karts events in the USA.
Stay tuned to the Caleb Gafrarar social media pages for news, information, photos, and results of upcoming events.
Photo Credit: Caleb G Racing