Fareham’s James Wren is planning to end his first full year of motor racing on a high by taking a career-best result in the Castle Combe Formula Ford season finale next weekend (September 23-24.)

The Fareham Van Hire-backed driver has been a revelation in the hotly contested Combe FFord series this year, overcoming his inexperience and small budget to take three ninth place finishes. Given that the championship regularly attracts grids of up to 40 cars, this is no mean feat. However, Wren and his small Dalmeny Racing team want to do even better in this weekend’s title decider.

"We’re more focused than ever," he declared before the pre-race test. "We want to lap in the 1m13s bracket for the first time and end the year with more points."

The fact that several of the drivers immediately ahead of James are fighting for the championship title could also work to his advantage, as could the high likelihood of this fight ending in small-scale carnage.

"Now that we’re racing up near the front, the knock-on effect of any incidents will close the field up further," he admitted. "This could work to advantage because overtaking has been one of our real strengths this year. But we won’t be taking any extra risks just because it’s the last race, at this point of the season it’s best to stick to the tried and tested routine and not risk changing the mix."

One thing that will surely boost Wren’s chances this weekend is the qualifying system. Two races are scheduled, with the starting order for race two determined by the results of race one. Given that James traditionally goes much better in the races than in qualifying, this should place him right in the thick of the action.

"The qualifying system for the second race should work in our favour," Wren agreed. "But it’s never a good idea to rely on something to help you out, we still need to go out and do the best we possibly can."

Way back in April, James started the season in style by taking his first points finish after slicing through the field in treacherous conditions. However, despite his undoubted prowess in wet weather, Wren would rather the track was dry for the two races.

"We do get to ‘stretch our legs’ a bit in the wet and the car’s wet weather potential was demonstrated earlier this season," he said. "But our preference would be dry conditions. The racing is much more intense in the wet, there are a lot more close calls and it all ends up being a bit of a heart-stopper. With a little luck though we’ll have no problems whatever the weather does. We don’t set goals before the races, we just go out and try to do the best we can do but more points are definitely are on the cards."