Southland’s Ethan Anderson will look to his home track advantage as the third round of the South Island Formula Ford Championship gets underway at Teretonga Park this weekend. Trailing overall leader Hunter McElrea by just 13 points, Anderson believes his local experience will help make the jump to lead the series heading into the Christmas break.
“We’re going to give it all we can,” commented Anderson. “We’ve done a number of rounds here and hoping for some advantage although we know it is going to be tough.
“I love the home track, as it is my favourite. It’s a fast flowing circuit and the first loop is at such a high speed. There’s always a lot going on during a race.”
For 16 year old McElrea, he hopes to carry on from his two race wins at the second round in Timaru earlier in November.
“After getting pole and two race wins at the last round at Timaru, I also gained the championship lead so hopefully I will be able to extend it, but I am not expecting this to be easy,” said the Australian based Kiwi.
“I have really enjoyed the start of my single seater career in SIFF. I’m still quite fresh to cars from coming straight out of karting, but I feel the Formula Fords suit my driving style. “
Just five points behind Anderson and also with a chance of taking the lead is another Australian based Kiwi Mitchell Maddren. Maddren, who is also new to Formula Ford this season, has improved over each of the six races in the series so far and will be looking for his first race win in New Zealand. He holds a one point lead over Anderson in the Class 1 category. McElrea leads Class 2 from Royce Bayer and Gary Lovie while Southland’s Corey Hodges leads the hotly contested historic Class 3 from Roger McKenzie.
The third round will feature two 10 lap races on Sunday morning with a 12 lap race in the afternoon. The Series takes a Christmas break before heading into two rounds in January over consecutive weekends in support of the 2016 Toyota Racing Series. The fourth round in Christchurch 16-17 January will also double as a national championship round before heading back to Invercargill for the penultimate round of the South Island Formula Ford Championship
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