The five-round 2026/27 South Island Formula Ford Championship (SIFF) gets underway with the first three races this weekend in Timaru. It is a competitive field with a mix of experience and rookies new to the category.
The very experienced Dylan Petch (Mygale SJ15A) finished second overall last season, but he will be up against Seb Eskandari (Mygale SJ13A) who finished runner up in the national championship.
“Really looking forward to it,” commented Petch (main photo). “There will be a lot of fast cars at the front. In fact, the whole grid will be quick like we saw at the end of the national’s last season.”
Petch has made the switch from a Van Diemen Stealth to a Mygale SJ15A bought out of Australia.
“The car won the Australia 2022 Formula Ford Championship with Valentino Astuti. We felt that the Mygale chassis has been performing well with the new Yokohama tyre. The car has had a large rebuild over the winter.”
What both Cantabrians will be up against is a confident Braxton Kraayvanger (Spectrum 015) who comes off a three-race winning streak at the opening round of the North Island Formula Ford Series at Hampton Downs earlier in this month.
Christchurch’s Archie Dampier-Crossley (Ray GR17) will be on the grid for his second SIFF season. Joining him are a number of rookies making their debut in single seater racing. Alex Sprague (Van Dieman RF94) from Timaru brings experience racing in both SS Cup and 2KCup while Nelson’s Conley Webley (Van Dieman RD93) comes off the back of competing in the recently finished One-Hour South Island Endurance Series (Class 4).
Southland’s Nixon Cripps (Spectrum 15) steps up from kartsport with the help of the experienced squad at Evolution Motorsport. Lily Flashman (Mygale SJ12) heads south from New Plymouth to compete in her first SIFF season while Olivia Lorenzen (Mygale) gets set for her second Formula Ford season having previously competed in both the North Island and national series last season. It will be her second time competing at the Levels circuit.
Veteran’s Gary Love (Van Dieman RF98) from Christchurch and Arrowtown’s (Van Dieman RF98) will also be on the grid and will not make it easy for other competitors.
The SIFF organising committee acknowledges the support Rodin Cars. Yokohama are continuing their backing of the series along with support from NAPA and their Driver of the Day award plus the Team Hutchison Ford prize for the winner of each round.
Comments