Asmer has been, and should be strong, but whether the team, who now has other things on its mind through combining with Piquet Sports for a GP2 attack, has the depth for the challenge, remains to be seen. Asmer is joined by Formula
BMW UK champion Tom Bridgman, who might find it hard in the series, but equally has championship winning form.
Danilo Dirani has given himself an added challenge by switching to the Lola chassis. Whilst there is no doubting the expertise at the British manufacturer, Dirani will be fighting against a sea of Dallaras, and knowledge of that manufacturers products. The ranks of Championship class Lola drivers were doubled however late in the day, with the addition of Steven Kane, who will drive for the Promatecme squad which ran Danny Watts to victory last year.
Jerseyman James Walker doesn’t have a long karting history to draw on, but he certainly quietly developed at Hitech in 2004 and he should be far nearer the front end of the action with the Fortec squad. He is partnered by Mike Conway, the reigning Formula Renault UK champion, the driver who has topped the test times for most of the pre-season.
Moving up from what was the Scholarship Class – now christened National Class – into the main event are Ryan Lewis, Stephen Jelley and Ronayne O’Mahony. Lewis remains with the T-Sport squad with whom he took an emphatic title last year, whilst Jelley remains with Opel power as he moves over to the Menu Motorsports equipe in a two-year attack for glory. Partial 2004 contender, Ronayne O’Mahony, moves to Fortec.
Kimi Raikkonen makes an appearance in the series, or at least his name does, with the Rakkonen Robertson Racing, or Double R team. Ex-Carlin man Boyo Hiett returns to the series from playing about with
McLaren road cars, and this should certainly be a team to watch with the same engineering team that put
Takuma Sato on the top spot in the 2001 championship. Drivers are Ford festival winner Dan Clarke and nephew of Ayrton, Bruno Senna. Both have very good potential to impress.
