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Ollie Millroy will be
geared up for his first UK race when he
appears in front of a sellout crowd of 150,000 people at next weekend’s British
Formula One Grand Prix. The 18
year-old from Claygate, Surrey is competing
in the Formula BMW Europe Championship which runs alongside seven European F1
and GP2 races.
Next weekend’s double-header event at Silverstone will be his first ever
car race in the UK, where he will take to the wheel of his Fisichella Motorsport
International Formula BMW single seater.
The BMW Junior development driver, who was awarded one of only four BMW
scholarships last year, has just returned from a successful two day test at the
Hungaroring and is fired up for his one and only British outing this year, in
front of an enthusiastic home crowd.
The British MSA Race Elite
Academy driver, in his first season out of karts, has already enjoyed success,
finishing sixth last time out in a one-off appearance in Montreal, Canada.
Needless to say the former British ICA Super
One kart champion is completely fired up about racing at ‘home’ and when the
event kicks off next Friday he will give 100% to get a good
result.
“I’m really looking forward to the Silverstone weekend,” said Ollie. “Racing at my home Grand Prix meeting is
important to me and I’m sure the atmosphere will be amazing. The event is a sell-out this year so
each day is going to be extremely busy. I know how enthusiastic the British
crowds can be and hopefully they will give me a lot of
support.
“I really like the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit and although our
official test earlier in the year didn’t go as well as I would have liked, we’ve
made a lot of progress since then.
We had a good test at Spa a week ago and then made further progress in
Hungary this week. There are three or four very experienced teams in this
championship and quite a few second year drivers and although we are playing
‘catch up’ we are getting closer to them and feeling reasonably
confident.
“Everyone is limited to half an hour free practice on Friday morning so
it is very important that the team and I get a good set up on the car straight
away, ready for the qualifying session in the afternoon. Qualifying is the main
key and my aim is to start as near to the front as possible and score points in
both races. Judging by our times in the last two official tests, that shouldn’t
be too difficult to achieve. This is the most competitive junior championship in
Europe and there are a lot of very good drivers in it. I was recently told that
it is very likely that the future F1 drivers will come from this championship
and it is my aim to be one of them”.
The event will commence with free practice on Friday at 08.45 prior to
official qualifying later that day at 12.50. The first 13 lap race will take place on
Saturday at 16.30 with the second taking place on Sunday at
08.30.
To follow Ollie’s progress
visit his website at www.olliemillroy.com
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