With five rounds down and one to go, the Formula Open New Zealand (FONZ) title will be on the line at Hampton Downs May 14th/15th. Will a new champion will be crowned?
Defending champion Gary Rush in his Formula Atlantic has had his hands full this year with the Vodafone Automotive duo of Sam MacNeill (FT40) and Josh Donohue (FT40). Both drivers will be aiming for a one-two finish in the series.
But nothing is guaranteed in a series where the different spec cars have strengths and weaknesses across different tracks. The series boosts a selection of past Toyota Racing Series cars, both the FT-40 and the FT-50 along with a number of Formula Atlantics, Formula Renault and Formula Suzuki cars, make up the field.
The category is about single seater cars with wings and slicks. A step up from Formula Ford and only one step away from the full TRS Series. In fact (with the exception of a few tracks) many of the ex-TRS and Formula Atlantic cars are lapping circuits as fast as the current TRS FT-60 car. So it’s seriously fast racing! The series this year has enjoyed appearances from top drivers such as Brendon Leitch and Tom Alexander.
While the FT-50 and Atlantics have more aero and excel in the twisty stuff, the FT-40, with less aero, has a superior top speed. It means the drivers have to play to the cars strengths and weaknesses at each circuit.
The FT-50 should be superior at Hampton Downs next weekend and with Tom Alexander back for the final round, piloting the ex Marcus Armstrong FT50 now owned by Kenny Smith, he’ll be hard to beat.
Having missed a number of rounds, Alexander is not in the hunt for the series title. That’ll likely be between Rush, MacNeill, Geoff Harriman and Donohue. Young gun Josh Donohue, with the points lead coming into the weekend, has the advantage. However everybody has to drop their worst round and with 350 points per round available things could change.
Watch out for battles throughout the field with Paul Couper (FT-40) and Leo Francis (FT-40) vying for top five spots in the championship.
It all means that a great weekend of single seater racing lays ahead. So get along to Hampton Downs. It gets underway in seven days’ time with Friday Practice (May 14th) and qualifying and racing on Saturday (May 15th).
Top 6 Series points after 5 rounds
1/ Josh Donohue (FT-40) 1780pts
2/ Geoff Harriman (FT-50) 1490
3/ Sam MacNeill (FT-40) 1395
2/ Gary Rush (DB4) 1350
5/ Paul Couper (FT-40) 1055
6/ Tom Alexander (FT-50) 695
Comments