Northbrook College Racing revs up for third season as they seek to retain championship

Team Northbrook Racing (TNR) are the challenge’s reigning champions, and a spokesperson for the college said they are eager to defend their title as the aim for a third consecutive championship victory.

The season starts in April and the team will embark on a new challenge – entering two cars for the first time.

Richard Jepp will return to the driver’s seat, looking to take the corresponding title, and he’ll be joined by Ari Baker in the college’s second car.

Dr Emma Norton, TNR’s Team Principal and Motorsport Course Leader, said: “We’re really excited. We’ve had two amazing seasons so far, a lot of hard work has gone in to it, but the reward has been incredible. That’s not just in terms of cups, but in terms of student involvement.“The students get so much out of the competition, and having two cars is just going to enable our ever-expanding number of students to enjoy real, hands-on experience and race time.“That experience really is the most important thing, and it’s something that they would get with a lot of other courses.”

Motorsport engineering student Leon, added: “We’ve won two titles, so of course there is pressure. And we’ve got two cars this season – so we’ve got to expect the unexpected and be ready for anything. But we’ve got some experience under our belts and I feel like we’re going in with an open mindset.“I’ve been with the story of TNR from the first page – from getting and building the first car and I’ve absolutely loved it.“Being able to actually get involved with motorsport has been a really good experience. Going to events and being able to apply the knowledge of what we’ve learnt is really good. And it will help me with my future career.”

Classmate Karis echoed Leon’s sentiments, adding: “It’s been really good to be a part of – you’re learning how to work in a team, learning about the cars and putting that into practice at the race track.“It also shows there are more opportunities in motorsport than just working on the cars. There’s media, marketing and everything else in between, which is important.“The course is great; it’s a lot of work, but we get through it. We’ve got a really good group and we’re getting lots of experience.”

Having driven them to victory over the last two years, driver Richard Jepp is keen to return to the track, and said: “We’ve had a great couple of years previously and I really want us to be going for the triple this year. It’s going to be tough; there’s a lot of strong colleges out there and some are also entering two cars.“My main goal, on top of the Student Motorsport Challenge, is the driver championship. I want to push on in that and go for that top spot on the podium.”Richard has been driving for TNR since the team launched, just two years ago and he has praised the growth of the students around him: “It’s been a really good partnership with Northbrook, really fruitful.”