BAR crew take on FFord Festival.

Members of the BAR F1 team were out at Brands Hatch last weekend as Olivier Panis' race engineer David Lloyd contested the Formula Ford Festival.

Lloyd's return to racing, after a ten year gap, saw him impressively battle through to the final of the highly competitive event - which was held in appalling weather conditions on the short Brands Hatch Indy circuit.

The BAR entry was billed as 'role-reversal' between Lloyd and Panis, with the French ace acting as engineer on Lloyd's Vector. In evidence at the circuit on a wet and cold Saturday, Panis appeared to be seldom actually involved with the car, having the air of a driver fulfilling a PR commitment like a good Grand Prix racer should. When asked for a brief interview, Panis declined, saying 'I am not here, and I will be not here tomorrow...'

Despite the example set by his erstwhile team leader, Lloyd got on with the job in hand and showed impressive form in his heat, gaining places after qualifying 14th and easily going through to the semi-finals. A successful semi saw Lloyd on the 14th row of the grid for the final - tough sadly a non-finisher in what most observers declared was the wettest Festival on record.