American rookie steered his Cliff Dempsey Racing Ray to seventh and eight place finishes in Rounds 19 and 21
NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – American Neil Alberico continued his inaugural European junior formula car campaign this past weekend (September 24-25), earning two more top-10 finishes in the highly competitive MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain. The Team USA Scholarship winner piloted his Cliff Dempsey Racing prepared Ray chassis to seventh and eighth place finishes in the opening and closing races of the Donington Park Circuit tripleheader, and was poised to make it three strong results in race two, prior to a start penalty being assessed. Alberico remains ninth in the championship chase with one series event remaining prior to commencing his Team USA duties in a pair of prestigious year-end trophy race affairs.
The fast and undulating Donington Park road course represented the latest challenge for Alberico, in what has been a learning season of racing abroad. As has been the case throughout the 2011 campaign, the Californian entered the Formula Ford tripleheader in north central England with significantly less track knowledge and experience than his championship rivals. With that in mind, Alberico spent both Thursday’s pre-event testing and Friday’s practice runs getting acclimated to the 2.4873-mile track and working with the talented Cliff Dempsey Racing crew to continually improve and fine tune his Ray GR11 chassis. Alberico in the end entered Saturday’s lone qualifying session confident a strong run was in store.
Things, however, did not go quite as planned for Alberico in the morning timed session, as the British Formula Ford rookie was unable to match the pace of the front-running Mygale racers, resulting in fifth and sixth row starting positions for the three races. While the 18 year-old was not pleased with his qualifying performance, he remained upbeat ahead of Round 19, well aware that he had previously worked his way forward come race time.
Returning to the cockpit of the No. 22 Lohmann Tapes/Sparco USA/Kartel Motorsports/Murray Motorsport/Ray RaceCar/Cliff Dempsey Racing entry a short time later, Alberico wasted little time showcasing his trademark racecraft. In what was a superb display of pace, aggression, and car control, he fought his way forward lap after lap. The former Bondurant Championship Race Series champion ultimately secured a well deserved seventh place result.
Alberico appeared well on his way to another charge forward in Round 20, when the action got underway on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, it was not last, as the Californian was judged to have jumped the standing start, and was subsequently handed a drive through penalty for the infraction. As expected, this ended Alberico’s chances at another top-10 finish, though the talented young racer did manage to work his way back to 13th at the stripe.
When Alberico and the rest of the field rolled back on-course after the lunch break for race three, a wet track greeted the racers. Piloting the lone Ray chassis, Alberico made the most of the tricky conditions right from the get go, advancing into the top-five by the end of lap one. From that point forward, the former karting star dueled for positions. When the checkered flag waved to end the action, Alberico had secured his 14th top-10 finish via an eighth place result.
“I know if we can qualify up front, we can race up front,” stated Alberico. “The current Formula Ford qualifying system leaves no room for error, as it sets up your entire weekend. We just need to qualify the Cliff Dempsey Racing car inside the top-five where it deserves to be. Between Cliff, the team, and myself, we have proven that we have good race pace. It's just a matter of putting it all together for Silverstone, starting with qualifying.”
Alberico concludes his first MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain season on October 8-9, with Rounds 22, 23 and 24 at the Silverstone Circuit. The Cliff Dempsey Racing racer, who enters the season-finale ninth in the title chase, will immediately follow that up by taking part in the historic Formula Ford Festival as a Team USA Scholarship driver.
A native of Los Gatos, Calif., Alberico first started racing karts at the age of 10, competing in IKF region 11 action. Over the course of four seasons (2004-07), the young talent captured the Junior Sportsman, Junior Super Sportsman, and Junior Puma championship titles. In 2008, Alberico first got behind the wheel of a race car, graduating from the Skip Barber 2-day Advanced school at Laguna Seca prior to participating in the Formula BMW recruitment day at Miller Motorsports Park. Continuing to race in the karting ranks while raising funds to pursue a career in motorsports, Alberico won the Snap-On Stars of Karting Series National finale in Las Vegas in 2009, before finishing third in CKI National TAG Senior championship. Alberico built on this success in 2010, winning the TaG Senior class in the WSK North American Series Champion, as well as the Bondurant Championship Race Series, capturing 10 wins in first full season of car competition. As part of the prize package for winning the Bondurant Championship, the teenager tested a Pro Formula Mazda with World Speed Motorsports and a Formula Atlantic Swift 016.a with Finlay Motorsports. In 2011, Alberico will make his European racing debut, competing in the world renowned MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain with Irish-based Cliff Dempsey Racing. For direct contact, please contact Neil Alberico @ nalberico@comcast.net
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Source: http://www.nkn.com/nationalkartnews/National_Kart_News/Welcome_to_NKN/Entries/2011/9/29_ALBERICO_AT_BRITISH_FORMULA_FORD_TRIPLEHEADER.html
American rookie steered his Cliff Dempsey Racing Ray to seventh and eight place finishes in Rounds 19 and 21
