Round 5 Report: 60th NZGP sees action filled Races with Flying Nose Cones and Safety Cars!

NOSE CONES FLY AND SAFETY CARS USED IN THE LATEST INSTALLMENT OF FORMULA FIRST AT THE 60th NZGP

Fresh from the last round of the Championship at Hampton Downs the Formula First Circus rolled into Feilding in the Manawatu for the 60th New Zealand Grand Prix weekend.

Being the 60th Anniversary of this iconic event the weekend held the promise of big crowds, great weather and exciting racing with some awesome support classes including Formula 5000, Formula Ford and of course our own Formula First class making this weekend a celebration of open wheel single seater action!!

Heading into this weekend the Championship was tied between two locals Paraparaumu’s Brody McConkey and Palmerston North’s Michael Shepherd, who would lead on Sunday night?

Qualifying on Saturday morning was held in unseasonably cool temperatures with a strong south-easterly that was blowing straight down the back straight taking away one of the usual slipstreaming zones. The early pace was set by Brody McConkey and Jacob Smith both quickly into the 1:23’s, the usual qualifying ballet would follow as drivers looked for a “tow” off another car to help drop their times further. The top four drivers would all set their best laps in the closing stages with both Elliot Andrew and Jacob Smith on lap 10 and Michael Shepherd on the 11th and very last lap just missing out on pole!!

Pole though would go to Brody McConkey with a 1:23.360 from Michael Shepherd, Elliot Andrew, Jacob Smith, Bramwell King, Ryan Hellier, Brook Reeve and Chris Symon who had an excellent run just back after a few meetings off rebuilding an engine. Next in 9th was Ian Foster followed by Bob Dillow, then another regular from seasons past in David Ruthven running his immaculate car for the first time this season. Dave Scammell followed in 12th ahead of Craig Greenwood, Nik Pervan, Ron Carter, Robert Steven, Amy Smith, Liam Foster, Matt Podjursky and Alex Hawley.

Race 1

As the crowd watched the cars roll out of pit lane on Saturday afternoon and onto the track for the first of three races little did they know they were about to witness one of the most intense closely contested Formula First races of the season! Many commentators later stating this was one of the best races they had seen by any class in a long time.

At lights out the field streamed down into turn one and through Splash sorting themselves out in the fashion the fans have become accustomed to the lead changing several times during the opening laps as the top ten cars pulled a slight gap on the main pack. Michael Shepherd led across the line for the first few laps the first of five different leaders at some point during the race! The drivers behind all moving around between second and tenth as slip streaming and late braking battles began as each driver tried to place his car in just the right position for the last lap dash. The three and four car wide runs through most corners with wheels inches apart defying belief and demonstrating a level of trust and driver skill only this class seems to show, a fact proven by numerous TRS teams and drivers lining pit wall to watch the action many shaking their heads in disbelief at the position changes and hair raising action unravelling before them, one heard to say “I gotta get me a drive in one of those things, that’s racing that’s awesome!’.

As the race neared its final laps Michael Shepherd was passed by Bramwell King and Brook Reeve who came from sixth on the last lap but still the pack were covered by less than a second. The last lap provided more excitement as cars lunged and slipstreamed got out of shape and bumped wheels but out of the final corner with the pack all spread across the track the win went to local boy Bramwell King by 0.286 of a second from Speedsport Scholarship winner Brook Reeve in second then a blur of cars as Ryan Hellier, Brody McConkey, Jacob Smith, Michael Shepherd Elliott Andrew and Ian Foster all crossed the line together 1.3 seconds covering the lot, Bob Dillow with another good result followed closely in 9th just ahead of David Ruthven, then Craig Greenwood, Dave Scammell, Robert Steven, Nik Pervan, Ron Carter, Amy Smith, Matt Podjursky, Liam Foster and Alex Hawley, Chris Symon sadly retiring on lap 6 with mechanical problems after running strongly in the mid pack early on.

Fastest Lap went to Brook Reeve with a 1:24:342

Race 2

Sunday morning dawned fine and cool after showers had threatened earlier. After the spectacle of the first race the word had got around that this was the field to watch and even though the early morning crowds weren’t large they were again treated to classic Formula First racing as the field of twenty faced the starter. Michael Shepherd would lead early from Bramwell King who had made a great start again, King would lead lap 2 from Shepherd and a hard charging Jacob Smith finding good form again at Manfeild. Shepherd would lead lap 3 and Smith lap 4 but heading into lap 5 Smith was turned around heading into the first corner by Brook Reeve causing Smith’s car to contact Bramwell Kings car that was alongside, Smiths nosecone clipping Kings Helmet as it flew through the air both drivers visiting the medical room post-race for check-ups Smith sporting a heavily strapped and iced right hand after the steering wheel caught his thumb heavily during the impact. Smith would restart and finish in 12th to gain some valuable points.

Up front the battles continued to the flag with King leading all but the final lap as Shepherds experience showed and he just eased King into second place keeping his Championship hopes alive with the win, following in 3rd was Ryan Hellier then Brook Reeve, Brody McConkey who struggled with brakes issues most of the race from Elliot Andrew, Ian Foster, Bob Dillow with another great drive and another top ten finish in 8th, ninth was David Ruthven from Dave Scammell, Craig Greenwood a recovering Jacob Smith, Robert Steven, Nik Pervan, Ron Carter, Amy Smith, Matt Podjursky, Liam Foster and Alex Hawley. Chris Symon unfortunately retired with engine overheating issues.

The earlier incident involving Smith and Reeve was reviewed by the Stewards post-race and after viewing onboard footage from several cars Reeve was fined, penalised 20 seconds and his licence was endorsed the time penalty dropping him to 12th and promoting other drivers up a spot.

Fastest lap went to Brook Reeve with a 1:23:471

Race 3

This is the unofficial feature race of the weekend for the Formula First class as the crowds, media and the who’s who of Motorsport are all gathered trackside in preparation for the NZGP making this race the one the drivers want to win above all others throughout the season. The actual race start was a relatively normal one but that was the calm before the storm as dramas were about to unfold that would change the look of the Championship table.

Michael Shepherd jumped to an early lead in the opening lap only to have his hard work undone when a Safety was dispatched as safety crews retrieved Ron Carters car from the gravel trap at turn 1 his brake pedal having gone soft at the worst possible time. This meant a rolling start with the field bunched up again. As the Safety car pulled in Shepherd led Brook Reeve, Elliot Andrew, Bramwell King, Brody McConkey, Ryan Hellier, Jacob Smith, Ian Foster, Craig Greenwood and Bob Dillow from Ruthven, Scammell, Steven, Liam Foster, Pervan, Amy Smith, Podjursky and Hawley. The front 10 cars again all over each other looking for an advantage and drivers settling into their work until the start of lap 5 when Elliot Andrew got his car out of shape having a look inside Shepherd into Splash resulting in the two touching and both spinning in front of the tightly packed following group, Shepherd spinning across the grass and carrying on as if nothing had happened, the carnage behind though changed the race as both Andrew and Brody McConkey who had also spun to avoid the accident were hit hard by the Sabre of Brook Reeve having nowhere to go, McConkey and Elliot were out with damaged cars Reeve was able to get his car restarted and eventually limped home in 15th and a lap down without a nosecone and sporting a flat right front tire. Bramwell King and Jacob Smith both miraculously just missed the spinning cars and found themselves first and second with a big lead until the Safety car was again dispatched to clear the track.

With the Safety cars lights out it was a two lap sprint to the flag with King leading Smith with Bob Dillow 3rd. King and Smith swapped the lead in an effort to shake the pack but the gap was never more than a second or so.

With one lap to go Jacob Smith led King then Hellier, Shepherd who had charged back to 4th in two laps from 9th then Dillow, Greenwood, Ruthven, Liam Foster, Robert Steven & Nik Pervan in 10th.

Down the back straight Smith led King the red 18 car of Smith holding the pole line but King had the momentum and out of Pepsi Max sweeper the 11 car of King had eased past and led however Smith wasn’t done and attacked again as the cars roared across the line King holding on but just though a mere 0.068 sec ahead of young Jacob Smith who just missed out on his first race win but repeated his second place finish from the same race last season delighting his team trackside. Michael Shepherd would get past Hellier on the line to claim third place, Craig Greenwood having his best finish this season was fifth from David Ruthven, Robert Steven, Nik Pervan, Liam Foster, and Bob Dillow who had an unfortunate spin on the last lap from 5th rounding out the top ten.

Amy Smith was 11th followed by Dave Scammell, Matt Podjursky and Alex Hawley.

DNF’s to Ian Foster with a suspension failure late in the race, Elliott Andrew, Brody McConkey, Ron Carter with accident damage and Chris Symon who again suffered mechanical issues.

Fastest lap went to Michael Shepherd with a 1:23:453

Top Ten for the weekend were;

1: King 217,

2: Shepherd 180,

3: Hellier 174,

4: Jacob Smith 146,

5= Reeve 117,

5= Ruthven 117,

7: Greenwood 112,

8: Dillow 111,

9: McConkey 108,

10: Steven 94.

The championship table now has Michael Shepherd alone in first on 953 points with Bramwell King a close second on 939, McConkey has dropped to third on 881, fourth is Hellier on 799 from Brooke Reeve in fifth on 708, Jacob Smith in sixth on 671, seventh is Elliot Andrew on 656, from Ian Foster on 417, Bob Dillow is ninth on 411 from Ron Carter rounding out the top ten on 397.

The Championship continues this coming weekend again at Manfeild, many teams having left their cars in Feilding during the week due to the quick turnaround in meetings. The final rounds look like being rippers as the top group still have a mathematical chance of threatening the top three so if you’re in the Manawatu this weekend get along to see what all the talk is about!