Awards reward young Joe's top driving

12:47pm Thursday 17th April 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

UP and coming racing driver Joe Paterson scooped three trophies in the first round of the prestigious Formula Palmer Audi 2008 Championship at Donington Park.

He won awards for being the most improved driver over the weekend, gaining the most places in a Championship race and improving his overall lap times by the greatest margin.

It had been an unbelievable roller coaster week for Joe, 17. He had just returned home late on Tuesday night from Florida, fairly dejected having competed in the opening round of the USA Stars of Karting Championships in Orlando, having suffered continual problems with new engines which were breaking down and were way off the pace.

He received a call on Thursday morning from Palmer Audi saying that one of the drivers who was due to drive in the 2008 Championship had not fully recovered from a skiing accident in February and would he like to drive in the opening round at Donington Park over the weekend.

Joe takes up the story: "I hadn't raced cars since the Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy last year and had never raced at Donington Park, so I was well off the pace during Friday testing.

"During Saturday practice, I started to get more familiar with the circuit and got the car set up to the way I like it, however I was still very rusty and was lying four seconds off the pace from the front running drivers, who had the benefit of plenty of winter testing."

Though Paterson failed to finish the first two races because of mechanical problems he drove well and in the final race he came 12th.

Joe added: "I was really surprised and delighted to receive three trophies from Jonathan Palmer; these will go nicely with my trophy for winning the Rookie of the Championship in the Autumn Trophy last year and it was really great to have a lot of my karting co-drivers cheer me on.

"As always I am very grateful to my dad, Jim, for continually supporting me and having the faith in my ability that if given the chance, I can make it one day to become a fully fledged racing driver.

"If anyone would like to talk to me about sponsorship, please call my Dad on 07931-366577 or you can visit my website on www.JoePaterson.com."