Press Release 10th May 2005

For immediate release:

D'Agostino's Double Pole-Positions Melt Away with the Weather

North Yorkshire, England – Brackley-based American Joe D'Agostino had another strong weekend in the 5th and 6th rounds of the UK Formula Ford Championship this past weekend at the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire.

After a brilliant dry qualifying session the rapid American netted a set of Pole-positions for both of the weekend's races. D'Agostino was on target to repeat his performance from Oulton Park in which he dominated, winning both races.

As the competitors all lined up in the assembly area a series of dark clouds loomed closer and closer. Just as things were to get under way for Race 1 golf-ball sized hail, yes hail instead of rain, began to fall heavily blanketing the entire area with a sheet of ice and snow. After a lengthy delay things got under way in extremely wet and difficult circumstances. Having done very little testing this year it was the first time D'Agostino had a chance to drive the Mockett.com-Team JLR 2005 Van Diemen in wet conditions. D'Agostino lost out on the start to championship rival Donnelly into the first corner but immediately applied pressure on his rival. Unluckily for the American a soft brake pedal meant running wide in the fast "Sunny In" corner dropping down to 7th position. After staging a valiant fight back D'Agostino eventually crossed the line in 3rd place collecting valuable points towards the championship.
Onto Race 2 and things still were soaking wet from persistent passing showers. After struggling for rear grip in the first race D'Agostino and Team JLR made several adjustments, hoping to learn about the needs of the new 2005 Van Diemen in wet conditions. After a good start D'Agostino instantly looked to be in better shape and was holding off Charlie Donnelly for 4 laps when the Mygale simply had more traction, easily driving alongside and passing D'Agostino for the lead into the second chicane. D'Agostino pushed hard to stay up but kept loosing time on the exit of each slow corner, eventually coming home in 2nd place.
less than ideal conditions! - more photos from Croft

D'Agostino commented on the weekend, "What a tough weekend! It was really unlucky for us that the conditions favored the Mygale chassis. We certainly had the pace in the dry but struggled here in the wet. I know we got the best out of our package this weekend but ultimately it wasn't quick enough. We will go back and work hard to develop the 2005 Van Diemen for these type of low grip conditions. I'm pleased we still had a strong weekend and am looking forward to Knockhill in a few weeks!"

D'Agostino is now 2nd in the Championship with the 7th and 8th Rounds of the UK Formula Ford Championship off to Knockhill in Scotland on the 21st-22nd May.

D'Agostino would like to thank Team JLR and all of his sponsors: Arai Helmets, Doug Mockett & Co., Sutton Images, Sparco USA, and all of his personal sponsors.

For further information about Joe D’Agostino or Team JLR please contact:

Richard Dean +44 1924 444345 rdean@jlr.co.uk
Joe D’Agostino +44 7821 688 700 (UK) +1 954 494 6228 (US) jd@joedagostino.com