The South Island - NZFF Rounds 1 & 2

Thank you for opening my newsletter for the first two rounds of the NZFF Championship - these have been two massive weekends for my career.

Practice and Qualifying - Timaru

We had limited testing going into this round - we went in virtually blind, as I'd never even seen the circuit before and hadn't run it on the sim. It was my first time at the track and I was stoked with how I went in practice, jumping to the top of the timing tables in just a few laps. Qualifying was tricky - getting a clear piece of track is difficult when it's so short, especially with 19 Formula Fords looking for a draft. As the chequered dropped we found ourselves P3, putting us on the inside line for Race 1.

Timaru Races

Race 1 came with the weather changing by the minute and the track drying on the dummy grid - tricky setup calls with limited wet data. We came off the line well, but the setup wasn't quite right, and we slipped backwards to cross the line 6th.

The track had completely dried for Race 2. Starting 3rd around this narrow circuit it's naturally hard to move forward early, but once we cleared the leader the car was right in the window and took off - we won by over two seconds.

Race 3, on Sunday, had a dry line but a wet right-hand side of the grid. We worked our way up to 2nd within a few corners and got right onto the leader's tail, but while fighting for the lead we were caught in an incident. The safety car came out and the race finished behind it - we took 2nd.

The track was fully dry again for the final race. The pace had been there all weekend; it was a hard-fought battle, and after being pushed off track and dropping to 3rd, we fought back over the last two laps to take the win - sealing the round win and the championship lead.

Practice and Qualifying - Highlands

We arrived at Highlands on the Wednesday for pack-in day. On the track walk I realised this place would be a lot of fun before I'd even turned a lap - and as we rolled out into practice I knew for sure. Getting airborne over the bridge, full commitment through Turns 1 and 2, all the banking through the carousel - this track is epic.

We found the pace within the first session and set the benchmark. The car was in the window so early that we parked it for the next two practice sessions to save our gear. Qualifying came around and the pace was still there - we left pit lane first and went for a fast lap straight away, going P1 early. While on a hot lap in the draft the red flag came out; I was gutted not to finish that lap, but came in to find we were still on pole.

Highlands Races

What a dream. There was a theme to the weekend - the outside row got the better starts off the clean side of the track, so I dropped to 3rd off the line each race. In Race 1 I regained the lead by the end of the first lap, and after a safety-car restart I stretched a gap to win by around 2.5 seconds.

Race 2 got a little dicey. Pole again, back to 3rd off the line, up to the lead, then back to 2nd - I saved the tyres knowing the leader was running wide a lot, crossed the line 2nd, and inherited 1st post-race.

Race 3, I started on pole but was turned into off the lights and pushed onto the grass, leaving me with no drive at all. I then picked up a track-limits penalty while fighting for the lead, and kept my nose clean rather than risk a DNF - finishing P4 after penalties, though I believe we set a new Formula Ford lap record at Highlands.

Those three races had us finish 1st for the meeting and extend our championship lead. Highlands has shot straight to the top of my favourite-tracks list. It was great to leave the South Island with that experience under the belt, as well as the championship lead - see you at Hampton Downs.

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