2006 Formula Palmer Audi season

2006 was the ninth year of the Formula Palmer Audi open-wheel racing series. Briton Jon Barnes won the Championship, while American Dane Cameron took the Autumn Trophy

2006 Formula Palmer Audi
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2006 Championship

The 2006 FPA Championship took in 15 rounds at six meetings. Brands Hatch was visited in both Indy and Grand Prix configurations, while Snetterton was added to the calendar and the series returned to Spa-Francorchamps. Two FIA GT Championship-supporting rounds at Dijon-Prenois in France and at Mugello in Italy concluded the season.

At the start of the season, Viktor Jensen, son of radio DJ David Jensen, romped away from the rest of the field, winning the first four races. But after that, having found his feet in his first year of open-wheel racing, Jon Barnes emerged as the dominant force, winning nine of the last 10 rounds to take the title with a race to spare. Barnes was nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award for his efforts throughout the season, breaking numerous FPA records such as most wins (nine), most consecutive wins (seven) and most points in a season (326).

2006 FPA Championship Schedule

Rounds Date Venue
1 and 2 May 20/21 Brands Hatch (GP)
3, 4 and 5 June 3/4 Spa-Francorchamps
6, 7 and 8 July 1/2 Brands Hatch (Indy)
9 and 10 July 15/16 Snetterton
11 and 12 September 2/3 Dijon-Prenois
13, 14 and 15 September 16/17 Mugello

2006 Championship Standings
Pos. No. Driver Nat. Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Total
1 32 Jon Barnes 326 20 20 16 18 16 24 24 20 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 326
2 8 Viktor Jensen 276 24 24 24 24 18 20 24 20 20 15 10 20 15 18 276
3 21 Chris Hyman 237 16 16 20 12 24 20 18 18 16 14 18 18 DNF 12 15 237
4 38 Giacomo Petrobelli 186 12 13 13 11 13 10 15 15 DNF 12 20 20 DNF 16 16 186
5 77 Tom Haines 180 10 14 11 14 14 15 14 14 15 13 16 DNF 16 14 DNF 180
6 55 Chris Bell 154 11 12 14 13 1 DNF 4 10 13 11 13 14 12 13 13 154
7 13 James Wingfield 149 18 18 18 20 20 18 16 6 DNF 15 149
8 10 Paul Warren 144 14 15 10 15 DNF 13 13 DNF DNF 10 14 16 DNF 10 14 144
9 6 Derrick Collin 128 1 7 9 9 7 9 6 12 10 5 10 13 11 7 12 128
10 4 Josh Southall 103 9 DNF 15 6 12 16 11 DNF 18 16 DNF DNF 103
11 12 Bruce Hodges 101 12 DNF 10 12 12 16 11 15 13 DNF DNF 101
12 19 Aaron Steele 95 15 DNF DNF 16 15 14 10 7 DNF 18 95
13 2 Giorgio Rosa 78 2 8 7 DNF 9 DNF 5 8 9 9 10 11 DNF 78
14 5 Wesley Fongenie 72 0 4 DNF 7 11 DNF 3 DNF DNF 8 8 11 9 DNF 11 72
15 7 Alan Kempson 71 7 6 5 DNF 8 7 DNF 5 9 6 DNF 12 DNF 6 DNF 71
16 44 Mark Powell 69 13 10 DNF DNF 13 12 9 4 8 69
17 9 Bill Knowles 60 5 DNF 8 10 2 8 DNF DNF 11 4 12 DNF 60
18 3 Barry Walsh 57 DNF 3 6 8 5 DNF 7 DNF 14 3 6 5 DNF DNF DNF 57
19 20 Niki Faulkner 53 15 18 20 53
20 11 Tony Brewer 46 3 5 DNF 4 4 5 DNF DNF 7 DNF 7 6 DNF 5 46
21 23 Howard Spooner 45 4 11 11 8 11 45
22 27 John Bell 43 6 2 4 8 7 8 8 DNF 43
23 15 Adam Smith 38 18 20 DNF 38
24 9 Stephen Young 23 14 9 DNF 23
25 14 Stuart Prior 15 6 9 15
26 12 Trevor Hyman 9 3 3 3 9
27 12 Rob Lofting 8 8 DNF 8
28 20 Ludovico Manfredi 0 0 2 4 5 6 4 9 9 5 7 0

Notes:

  • 0 denotes a finish outside the points.
  • DNF denotes a failure to finish.
  • A blank space denotes a non-participation, i.e. did not start.
  • Bold denotes race winner.
  • Ludovico Manfredi was not eligible to score championship points due to licence issues. However, the points he would have scored (51 in total, enough for 20th in the final standings) are shown in the table.

2006 Autumn Trophy

The 2006 Autumn Trophy, held on consecutive weekends at Snetterton and Brands Hatch in early November, heralded the dawn of the next generation of young FPA stars. At Snetterton, 16-year-old T Cars star Luciano Bacheta proved to be a contender, winning his very first race in an open-wheel car, and following it up with a third place and another victory to lead the series at the half-way stage. Meanwhile, Team USA Scholarship driver Dane Cameron won the second race to remain just two points behind Bacheta.

At Brands Hatch, however, Cameron put in a stunning weekend performance on a track the Californian had never driven before, winning all three races to become the third American to claim the title. Bacheta had to settle for third in the series, as the consistent Aaron Steele took the runner-up spot by virtue of podium finishes in all six races.

The Autumn Trophy was also notable for the open-wheel racing debuts of Alex Brundle, son of former Formula One driver Martin Brundle, and Stefan Wilson, brother of ChampCar star and former FPA champion Justin Wilson.

2006 Autumn Trophy Schedule

Rounds Date Venue
1, 2 and 3 November 4/5 Snetterton
4, 5 and 6 November 11/12 Brands Hatch (Indy)

2006 Autumn Trophy Standings
Pos. No. Driver Nat. Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total
1 11 Dane Cameron 136 20 24 20 24 24 24 136
2 19 Aaron Steele 114 18 20 18 20 20 18 114
3 15 Luciano Bacheta 102 24 18 24 4 16 16 102
4 21 Robert Podlesni 98 10 16 16 18 18 20 98
5 8 Gino Ussi 76 6 15 14 16 11 14 76
6 20 Nigel Smith 70 12 12 12 12 9 13 70
7 55 Chris Bell 68 15 14 9 14 13 3 68
8 38 Giacomo Petrobelli 66 16 2 15 9 12 12 66
9 9 Stefan Wilson 52 14 1 0 15 7 15 52
10 10 Paul Warren 48 11 11 DNF DNF 15 11 48
11 1 Stephen Young 45 9 13 13 DNF DNF 10 45
12 44 Mark Powell 42 7 8 7 10 10 DNF 42
13 12 Bruce Hodges 40 8 5 DNF 13 14 DNF 40
14 9 Derrick Collin 39 3 3 5 11 8 9 39
15 3 Barry Walsh 35 13 6 11 DNF DNF 5 35
16 7 Alan Kempson 33 4 9 8 8 DNF 4 33
17 4 Richard Plant 31 2 DNF 10 6 6 7 31
18 88 Jeremy Preddy 26 5 4 3 5 3 6 26
19 35 Steve Ross 21 0 7 1 DNF 5 8 21
20 27 John Bell 20 1 DNF 6 7 4 2 20
21 4 Alex Brundle 14 0 10 4 DNF DNF DNF 14
22 50 Mark Higson 3 DNF 2 1 3
23 50 Kirsty Jeffrey 2 0 0 2 2

Notes:

  • 0 denotes a finish outside the points.
  • DNF denotes a failure to finish.
  • A blank space denotes a non-participation, i.e. did not start.
  • Bold denotes race winner.
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