INTERVIEW WITH IAN FOSTER 2008/2009 FORMULA FIRST CHAMPION

FormulaFirst.co.nz recently caught up with newly crowned Formula First champion, Ian Foster, for a quick chat.

Formula First: Firstly Ian, congratulations on the 2008/2009 Formula First National Championship title. Has it sunk in yet, and if so, how does it feel?

Ian Foster: Feels great, huge satisfaction. This year was different, Sure we were unlucky last season at round 1, but the reality was that Cliff (Field) last season and Selby (Allison) the year prior, had the package. Both were quicker and we were always playing catch up, especially with Selby. We would make a gain only to find that Selby had as well. That said, it was a huge amount of fun. This year we had a great package, a good engine. I managed to stay focused on driving. Gary & Ayrton did a superb job engineering the car and getting the setup awesome.

Formula First: Let's take you right back to the first round of the year... You turned up at Taupo with an intake manifold on the car that failed to work as expected, leaving you to qualify dead last. Given that the previous year, a first corner accident in the first race of the year seriously harmed your chances at the title, did you have feelings of deja vu?

Ian Foster: Yeah! But lucky for me I have a really slow tow car, as you probably know I had to go home to Auckland to get the old manifold so I had quite a few hours to think about it all. Seriously though, any problems you encounter like this you need to address, hopefully solve and move on and remain focused on the job at hand. Throughout testing and qualifying the team kept eliminating things so at the end of qualifying, we were sure it was the manifold. Any thoughts of deja vu were well gone at the end of race 1 with our 3rd place, helped I must say by the safety car.

Formula First: Despite the safety car, your recovery during that first race was nothing short of spectacular. Watching from the sidelines it looked as though the writing was almost on the wall. Did the season feel comfortable, or was it a struggle? Was there any time throughout the season where you thought you were likely to win, or lose, the title?

Ian Foster: The focus from the beginning was to win the title. And as the season progressed I guess confidence grew, however I was very aware that it became potentially mine to lose as well. Looking at the results you have to say it must have been easy, but I can only think of 1 race at Manfeild that I got away and won by over 4 seconds, but there was a huge struggle of about 6 cars fighting for 2nd that enabled me to get away. If you look at the 3 races I won at Puke, my winning margin over 3 races was under 0.8 of a second. So I would say every result was hard fought, winning usually by about a metre or less. Nick (Cassidy) was unlucky at Pukekohe blowing an engine, Michael had issues as well.

Formula First: We hear, that as a driver, it's always difficult to juggle confidence and focus. If you let your confidence levels get too high, you can start making mistakes, or on the other end of the scale you end up driving too conservatively. Being in the lead of the championship is more like defending than attacking. Leading the title as you did, for much of the season, did you find that your driving changed much? Did you think more about conserving your points position, or was it a case of throwing caution to the wind and driving hard all year?

Ian Foster: I was out to win as much as we could, our points system and the closeness of our class means we have to push hard, there were times where the risk was too great. The really wet meeting we had at Puke, we struggled with setup and Nick was in a class of his own, so to settle with a podium there was enough given the risk of a DNF.

Formula First: We heard that you were hoping to wrap the title up with one race to spare - a rare thing in Formula First. At the last round at Taupo you did just that. Not only that but you then took a great win in the last race, to finish your season on a high note. What was that last race like to drive, knowing that you'd already had the title sewn up?

Ian Foster: Awesome. No pressure, just get out there and drive your heart out and have fun. And that is what I did, it was awesome and a great way to finish the season.

Formula First: Up until that second to last race, you had been pressed pretty hard by Michael Shepherd and Nick Cassidy. Who were your most respected rivals throughout the season? Was there anyone who surprised you?

Ian Foster: I would say probably Nick & Sheppo for sure, Nick did a great job in his rookie year, but I was also impressed and enjoyed racing with Michael Neville at Puke, and Bramwell with that round at Manfeild where he was really on it. The racing was close and hard but always fair. Let me also say Sheppo and Matt Gibson are guys I totally trust at any circuit wheel to wheel, awesome guys to race with, and at the beginning of the season I expected Michael to be the hardest to beat.

Formula First: What were the high and low points of your season?

Ian Foster: There were no real low points, just issues that we had to overcome. Gary was great in his quiet manner at addressing these and helping me stay focused on what had to be done. High point had to be Winning the championship, other things like losing the lap record to Matt at Manfeild by .001 of a second only to get it back the next day was great. Convincingly beating Sheppo by 0.006 second in race 2 at Puke at round 3.

Formula First: Your record on track this season speaks for itself. 13 wins (over 50% of the season's races), 2nd four times, 3rd four times and only off the podium on three occasions (one of those due to a stewards penalty and the other two, we believe, due to mechanical problems). You also had two perfect meetings (3 wins from 3 races). Hearing those stats read back to you, they must sound pretty dominant. What are your thoughts?

Ian Foster: Yeah, I guess we were. That said, I did some maths; take out the races this season where the winning margin was in excess of 1 second (there were 5) and the average winning margin to 2nd place was .329 seconds, or the average margin over all 24 races was .929 seconds to 2nd place. Tell me of another class of racing that's so close. It's Fantastic!!!

Formula First: You've been involved in Formula First since the days of it being known as "Formula Vee". What's changed the most over the years about the class?

Ian Foster: Last year we celebrated our 40th year as a formula in NZ. The cars engine, gearbox etc haven't changed but the cars are a lot more sophisticated than earlier examples we saw on display last year. The cars have got much quicker, and more competitive, as well. The cars are fun to drive and are still the most affordable car to race on a National Level.

Sabre Motor sport has emerged as a well established training ground for young drivers who want to progress through the sport, Brendon Hartley, Shane Van Gisbergen, and Ritchie Stanaway to mention a few. Formula First is now seen as something that needs to be on drivers CV, if they are to progress, as many of our current drivers we have representing our country on the world stage. This is real positive for our class!

Formula First: We see that your car is now up for sale. So what does the future hold for Ian Foster? Are you going to continue racing in Formula First, or are there other plans?

Ian Foster: Yes, the championship car is for sale. As a father of 2 boys that have Karts this needs to take some time and focus. As far as racing Formula First, Ayrton Brant and myself are going to share my older car and I'm really looking forward to that. A Formula 5000 is on the wish list for one day, but really Formula First is so good, racing is hard and good, the people are great, what more could you want?

Formula First: Lastly, we all know that motor racing is a team sport. Who has helped you over the years to achieve your Championship goal?

Ian Foster: I have to say thanks firstly to my wonderful family; Adele, Liam, Holly & Jensen who have totally supported me and allow me to do something I love to do. As you mentioned in your question motor sport is a team sport. My name might happen to be on this year's trophy, but it was totally a team effort, and without the help and expertise of Scorpion Race Cars (The Brant Family) it would not have been possible. So to Gary & Ayrton for all the work you have put in, not only this year but all the previous ones as well, thanks so much guys.

Maria for all the coffee's and bikky's and Emerson for keeping your Mum company while I kept your Dad and Ayrton in the garage - thanks! Thanks also to Dwight at Leading Edge Cylinder Heads for all your time and effort.

I would like to thank Kaeser Compressors and Plummer Compressors (Kevin, Nick and Cameron) my personal sponsors for their continued support for all the years I have been racing, we've had a lot of fun together, thanks guys for your support.

Finally thanks to our Series Sponsors, Weldwell, King Chrome, OEM and Dateline for their generous support that ensures our TV coverage and lastly the drivers who made up this year's championship it was great. Roll on 2010!!!

Formula First: Congratulations once again Ian, enjoy your championship year, and thank you for agreeing to speak with us.

Ian Foster: Thank you.