DORSET’S Daniel Mackintosh impressed around Oulton Park for his first taste of the 2020 Avon Tyres National Formula Ford Championship.

The Rampisham racer, driving for Oldfield Motorsport, showed great speed in practice and improved his lap time in every session, ending the day less than a second from the leading cars driven by more experienced drivers.

This was his first time running with the FF1600 at a race weekend and Mackintosh proved his speed and ability to compete at top-level motorsport.

Ten minutes before his qualifying run, the heavens opened with torrential rain leaving the track drenched.

With no practice runs it was straight into timed qualifying, 15 minutes of maximum effort to gain the best grid slot for the first race. Mackintosh ensured he kept on the track and qualified 24th of 34 cars for his first race.

With the rain still falling when the lights went green, Mackintosh was up to 21st by the first corner and started gaining on the leading pack.

However, coming down the hill to the second chicane two cars in front of Mackintosh collided and one went through the escape road, coming back onto the track in front of the Dorset man who was forced to avoid a collision which resulted in a spin.

No damage occurred but a stalled engine would not restart, resulting in a DNF.

In race two, Mackintosh started 34th due to his non-finish. A fairly uneventful race followed with a result of 21st overall and 15th in the championship – a brilliant effort on the teenager’s debut.