19 year old racing driver James Gornall from Werrington Peterborough got even closer to his Formula One dream last Thursday.


James alongside the Renault F1 car

As the special guest of Renault dealership, Smiths of Peterborough, at their open evening event, James was united with a Renault Formula One car as well as his own Formula Renault car in which he is racing in the UK Championship in 2004.

Daniel Fitzjohn, dealer principal for Smiths, invited multiple British Champion James to meet and talk to guests at the special event and give an insight into his own racing this year. “We painted James’ race car for him at the beginning of the season in our body shop this year and thought it would be nice to be able to display the car for others to see” Said Daniel. “After all it is a Renault! The Formula One car is something special and it was nice to see James alongside it. We hope, like everyone involved with James that one day soon we will actually see him racing one. It would be nice if that was a Renault also!”

James was kept busy all evening talking to guests, answering lots of questions and signing autographs. He even had time to pose for the odd camera or two!

James said “ I thoroughly enjoyed the event and was very pleased to be asked by Smiths to come along. They did a fantastic job on my own car at the beginning of the year and have recently ‘touched it up’ after 10 hard races, making it look as good as new for the second half of the season.”

James’ UK Renault Championship racing gets under away again on the 24th/25th July, at the very fast Croft circuit in Yorkshire. A circuit he enjoys racing at, and holds the lap record from last years BARC Renault series. “I’m training hard and really looking forward to getting back out in the car” said James.

James will be back in the racing seat of a Kart in mid July(16/17), when he takes part in a 2 day charity karting event against most of the Formula One teams. “Always good practice!” said James. “ I can’t wait.”

Click here for further photographs from the day





NOTE: News of the day also appeared on the Renault Sport website. The full transcript is provided below and the following link takes you direct to the article.
RenaultSport.co.uk


Gornall guests at Renault dealer evening

Werrington-based Formula Renault UK Championship driver James Gornall was a guest of his local Renault dealership, Smiths of Peterborough, last week during a special open evening featuring his own JA Motorsport-run car and a static R23 Renault F1 Team car.

The 19-year old, who last year won the club-level BARC Formula Renault Championship before moving into the manufacturer-backed Formula Renault UK Championship this season, was on hand at the dealership to talk to guests and give them an insight into his own career and driving in the UK’s premier junior single-seater category. 

Smiths have been supporting Gornall since the start of the year and through its body shop provided a brand new livery for the Werrington ace. “I thoroughly enjoyed the event and was very pleased to be asked by Smiths to attend”, said Gornall.

“They did a fantastic job with the livery on my own car at the beginning of the year and have recently ‘touched it up’ after the first 10 races of the year to make it look as good as new for the start of the second half of the season in a few weeks time.”

Rounds 11 and 12 of the Formula Renault UK Championship take place on 24th/25th July at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire and James can’t wait for the series to resume, adding: “I’m training hard and really looking forward to getting back out in the car.”

Daniel Fitzjohn, general manager at Smiths of Peterborough, commented: “We painted James’ race car for him at the beginning of the season in our body shop and thought it would be nice to be able to display the car for others to see – after all, it is a Renault!

“To have the Formula One car on display too was something special and it was nice to see James alongside it. We hope, like everyone involved with James, that one day soon we will actually see him achieve his aim of being in F1. It would be nice if that was a Renault also!”