FOSTER CLOSES THE GAP

Three solid performances by Ian Foster at Pukekohe on Sunday saw the Auckland-based driver narrow Selby Allison’s lead in the Formula First Championship to just 29 points. Driving his Kaeser Compressors sponsored Challenge, Foster took command early by taking victory in race one. He then backed up his good start with two strong second placings in races two and three.

Ian Foster has closed the points gap to Selby Allison to just 29 points. Qualifying 19 cars turned out for the one day event, round 4 on the Championship calendar, at Pukekohe on Sunday morning. The promised bad weather looked to be on the cards after a seriously wet Saturday night, but thankfully the rain stayed away, allowing a fully dry qualifying session to take place.

It was apparent early on during qualifying that there were going to be three main contenders. Hydraulink sponsored Sabre Team driver Caine Lobb was really on the pace and set a a blistering 1:14.38 qualifying lap, followed by Foster, just 5 hundredths of a second behind. Allison placed his Century Batteries Alvee third on the grid, a further .32 of a second behind Foster. The scene appeared set for a day of tight racing amongst these three.

Behind the top trio, Bryan McConkey had an excellent showing to qualify fourth, followed by Simon Hardy, Alastair Wootten, Michael Shepherd, Matthew Stubbs, and Chad Ace. Dom Kalasih rounded out the top ten.

Hardy’s qualifying had not been without it’s troubles. The young Tauranga driver having had his engine’s airbox fly off after making some adjustments in the pits. The airbox was subsequently run over by McConkey who luckily suffered no damage to his car. The same could not be said for Hardy’s airbox, which was completely destroyed. Scott Fountain was another early qualifying casualty, pulling into the pits after only a handful of laps with an engine that was pressurising and losing oil.

Race 1 Race one started off in typical Formula First fashion with several cars disputing the top position. The leading bunch consisted of 6 cars for virtually the entire race, until it all went wrong approaching the hill on the last lap.

Caine Lobb's nosecone-less car after race 1. Foster headed the pack out of the hairpin and stayed in front on the run down past the pit entrance. As the pack passed the entrance, Lobb and Allison came together at speed, sending both cars spinning across the track. A mad scramble ensued as the front pack dispersed left and right to avoid the mess. Foster was clear of the incident, whereas Shepherd and Wootten threaded their way through to finish second and third respectively. The collision had completely shuffled the top ten positions, with perhaps the most unlucky of them being Dom Kalasih, who’s only choice was to head for the pit entrance and drive the last part of the race down the pit lane. The luckless Kalasih was credited with a 17th place finish. Ahead of Kalasih, Hardy and McConkey had also had their race affected. Hardy was forced to take to the grass and did a great job to bring his car back on track quickly to finish 8th, whilst McConkey lucked in and jumped up to fourth after driving right through the middle of it all.

Others who were helped by the incident included Matthew Stubbs (5th), who had actually clipped Lobb’s dislodged nose cone on the way through, and Robin Bennett (6th).

Lobb recovered to finish 7th, whilst Allison came home in 9th, just behind Hardy.

Tenth place went to Wanganui rookie Bradley McDonald.

Fountain’s qualifying woes transferred through to the first race, with the young Aucklander pulling out with engine troubles. He would take no further part in the day’s racing.

Race 2 At the flag fall Allison and Foster got the jump on the field and quickly opened out a big gap on the chasing group. Foster was pushing incredibly hard down at the hairpin lap after lap, but appeared to be setting himself up for the final run to the line.

Selby Allison's car didn't escape unscathed from the race 1 incident. Allison's leg was also lightly scratched by Lobb's nosecone when it punched through the fibreglass bodywork. After seven laps of intense pressure, Allison emerged from the hairpin for the last time with the lead. But Foster had other ideas and had positioned himself well to get a good final slipstream. As the two cars crested the hill on the run to the flag, Foster pulled out from behind and made one last lunge. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough for the Aucklander and as the two cars passed the finish line, it was Allison who took the win by mere inches.

Allison admitted to being surpised by Foster’s last lap charge,

“I saw Ian back there and thought I had enough of a gap to take the win easily enough, but it surprised me just how much he managed to catch back up, it was pretty close at the end there”.

After 8 laps of racing the gap back to the chasing pack had grown to over 5 seconds. Michael Shepherd took the hotly contested final podium spot from Simon Hardy. Fifth went to Lobb, followed by Matthew Stubbs, Wootten, McConkey and Bennett. Dom Kalasih rounded out the top ten.

Third through to eighth had been an amazingly tight race, a mere .98 seconds covering the six cars.

Race 3 The last race of day started out looking like a repeat of race two. However, Foster and Allison couldn’t achieve the same gap they’d enjoyed previously, their fighting allowing the chasing pack to stay close.

Allison's victory in race 3 took his score to 8 wins from the last nine races. As with the previous race, Foster looked to be positioning himself to get a good run at the finish line, but once again he couldn’t muster the pace he needed and came agonisingly close to pipping Allison at the line. Allison’s victory (his eighth from the last nine races) completed a good comeback from his troubles earlier in the day, but Foster’s points haul saw him take the top score for the round - closing the gap to Allison in the process.

Shepherd continued his metronomic consistency with yet another podium placing - taking third from Hardy. Lobb crossed the line next, followed by McConkey, Stubbs, Wootten, Bennett and Sabre Team driver Chad Ace.

Foster's performance throughout the day saw him close the points gap on Allison from 52 to 29, leaving the Aucklander happy with his efforts.

"I'm absolutely delighted with our performance over the weekend. We are now super focussed on carrying this momentum through into the coming rounds. We still need to find a little more speed, but myself and the crew are confident that we can find that little extra performance from the Kaeser Compressors car".

The current standings now see Allison topping the table on 790 points, from Foster on 761. Michael Shepherd remains in third place on 699 points.

The next round of the Championship takes place at Manfeild on the 27th and 28th of January.