PERCAT BAGS SECOND ROUND WIN AT WINTON
26 March 2009
South Australian racer Nick Percat has once again made a clean sweep of all three races at round two of the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship held at Winton Raceway this weekend.
Percat was never seriously challenged in the third and final race, storming home nearly seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Queenslander Chaz Mostert, who found himself in a battle with third place-getter Mitch Evans.
“This is a great start to the season,” Percat said, underestimating his stellar achievement.
“The car was perfect all weekend ... I had plenty of speed and even thought of having a crack at Jamie’s (Whincup) lap record but thought better of it when my rear started to fade and it got a little skaty,” he chuffed.
“Hopefully we can take the same performance to Tassie and make it three in a row!” Percat ominously said.
Factory Enterprises pilot Chaz Mostert valiantly fought for second place on the podium this weekend, after he was passed in the opening lap by New Zealander Mitch Evans.
Evans was hunted down by Mostert, who clearly had greater car speed, and after an exciting duel taht lasted most of the 12 laps regained his second placing just before the finish line.
“I had a great battle out there this afternoon with Mitch,” Mostert said.
“It was a bit of a shame it took me so long to get passed him (Evans) because I really had the pace to run with Nick (Percat) today which is promising going into the next round,” he said.
14 year-old Evans salvaged what began as an average weekend, finishing third overall for the round and again displaying ability and maturity under pressure beyond his years.
Coming home in fourth place today was CAMS Rising Star and Scott’s Transport backed driver Scott Pye.
The South Australian showed great pace and was never far off launching an attack on the duelling Mostert and Evans but rear tyre fade eventually put an end to him mounting a serious challenge for position.
Pye and the other young CAMS Rising Stars, Luke Ellery and Nathan Morcom had a secret weapon in their garage this weekend in the form of retired V8 Supercar legend Mark Skaife.
Skaife, through his association with the Australian Motor Sport Foundation, was on hand throughout the weekend to share his intimate knowledge of Winton and how the young racers might be able to improve their chances of a good showing.
“Having Mark around was fantastic,” Scott Pye said.
“His knowledge and experience is just awesome ... and he didn’t just turn up and tell us how to drive – but how we can give our engineers a better idea of what’s going on in the car and how we might be able to get some more speed out of it ... that sort of stuff is invaluable and will definitely help as the season progresses.”
The EWP “Hard Charger” award this weekend went to Ritchie Stanaway, who after finding himself at the back of the field when he ran off and span in race one, blasted his way back through the field in the next two races to finish in fifth place.
Round three of the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship will be held at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania on May 29 - 31.
