Tom Sargent has climbed back into the Australian Formula Ford Championship top-three placings, by finishing fourth overall in the sixth and penultimate round of the series at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park circuit on the weekend.
The race meeting was affected by bitterly cold temperatures and winds that approached gale-force speeds, creating an uncomfortable environment for Sargent and his rivals.
“They were honestly some of the toughest conditions I’ve ever encountered in a race car, the wind was just crazy,” Sargent said.
“It wasn’t actually raining, but because the track was so cold, it was very difficult to generate tyre temperature and there wasn’t a lot of grip.
“The wind speed made the car very unstable – over the top of the circuit, the car was understeering badly through Turns 4 and 5, and on the back straight I was fighting to keep it pointing in a straight line, because I had 70km/h gusts that were literally trying to blow me off the track.”
Sargent overcame the adverse conditions, qualifying in fourth position before finishing fifth in Race 1. He improved to fourth in Race 2, and was charging hard in Race 3, working his way up to third and closing in on the leaders before it was declared five laps early.
“Race 1 wasn’t ideal – I got shuffled back a few spots and had to recover,” Sargent said.
“Race 2 was better, and Race 3 was going really well – the car was excellent, I was feeling confident, and I was catching the leaders.
“Unfortunately there was an incident which caused the officials to finish the race with five laps to go, which was a shame because I felt we could have challenged for the win.”
While Sargent narrowly missed out on an overall podium finish for the weekend, his strong results elevated him to third in the standings.
“Considering we scored no points in the previous round, I’m stoked to be in the top three in the championship, and hopefully we can maintain or improve on that position in the final round of the season,” Sargent concluded.
The seventh and final round of the Australian Formula Ford Championship will be held at Phillip Island, 28-29 September.
Round Results Summary
Qualifying: 4th
Race 1: 5th
Race 2: 4th
Race 3: 3rd
Overall: 4th
Top 10 Points – After Round 6
- Angelo Mouzouris – 257
- Zac Soutar – 229
- Tom Sargent – 201
- Lachlan Mineeff – 198
- Callum Hedge – 196
- Cody Burcher – 184
- Jay Hanson – 168
- Courtney Prince – 149
- Cody Donald – 95
- Harrison Goodman – 90
