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2007 Formula Palmer Audi season


2007 saw the 10th season of the Formula Palmer Audi open wheel racing series, contested over 20 races between 7 April and 23 September. The championship was won by Tim Bridgman in his first Palmer Audi season.

For 2007, Formula Palmer Audi underwent a change in its target market, focusing primarily on young aspiring Formula One drivers rather than affluent businessmen. Of the 22 drivers in the field for each round, 16 were "career drivers", with a group of around six gentleman drivers" remaining. The number of races increased from 15 in 2006 to 20, the number of meetings increasing from six to eight. Despite this 33 per cent increase, the cost of competing in the series was reduced, the advertised price of £55,000 plus VAT being a reduction of nearly £3,000 on the 2006 season.

The race calendar for 2007, while expanded, did not feature any meetings outside of the UK. However, FPA continues to support large international events at Brands Hatch such as A1 Grand Prix and DTM.

The season began at Silverstone on Easter Saturday, with a pair of 22-lap races scheduled for the 1.6-mile National circuit. Series newcomer Matthew Hamilton took both pole positions after topping the two qualifying sessions on Saturday morning, having come out on top of a bizarre tiebreak in the second session. Both Hamilton and Luciano Bacheta set identical fastest times of 55.328 seconds. Hamilton was awarded pole having set the time before Bacheta did.

Bacheta took the lead at the start of Round 1 with Hamilton slotting into second. They would be forced to hold station for the opening laps as the safety car was deployed for a collision between Jack Clarke and Andreas Demetriou at Becketts. At the restart on lap seven, Bacheta held off Hamilton, but was passed by him down the National Straight half a lap later. Hamilton went on to win the race by around two seconds, with Jason Moore taking a podium in his first-ever car race, holding off more experienced drivers Dominik Jackson and Tim Bridgman on the final lap to take third.


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