Christchurch’s Will Neale has extended his lead in the 2024/25 Yokohama South Island Formula Ford Championship after winning three races including the prestigious Wigram Cup over the weekend. With home track advantage, Neale also finished second in the second race at the Wigram Revival meeting, that win going to rival, Auckland’s Dylan Grant.
“Very happy with the weekend,” said Neale. “We made the best of what we have as we are still struggling with engine power.”
It had been close racing on Saturday at Ruapuna. First, Neale (Van Diemen RF94) put his car on pole position winning the Hampton Downs NZ Racing Academy $500 cash prize for fastest qualifier, with Dylan Grant (Van Diemen RF03) second quickest ahead of Dylan Petch (Van Diemen RF93), Jake Bryant (Van Diemen RF94), Jack Noble-Adams (Ray GR21) and Izaak Fletcher (Ray GR20).
In the first of four races on Saturday afternoon, it was Grant that took the lead from Neale, Petch, Bryant and Noble-Adams. However, it was Neale who crossed the line ahead of Grant and Petch.
Grant reversed the top order winning the second race on Sunday morning and his first of his southern season. He took the lead after Neale bogged down on the line dropping to fourth and having to work his way through to second on the line. Petch finished third with Fletcher fourth ahead of Noble-Adams.
The third race of the weekend had a dramatic conclusion for two of the top runners, denting both their overall title chances. While Neale initially took the lead, on the main straight Petch was able to get by on his right while Grant slipped passed on his left. However, once both were passed, they came together causing significant damage resulting in neither driver finishing and crucially, no championship points.
“We got a little bit lucky after both Dylans (Grant and Petch) came together,” said Neale. “It’s still very competitive as we saw in the last race when Dylan Petch got his car together and was quick out of the gate. I’ve been struggling with my starts all weekend which has been stressful.”
The final race of the weekend was the 12-lap Wigram Cup which saw Neale once again take the lead from Petch, Bryant, Noble-Adams and Fletcher. Grant had been unable to make the start while Petch made it just in time.
“The car wasn’t terrible,” said Petch. “Towards the end it was all over the place. It was a good outcome from a skewed car. We had to put green (new) tyres on it as we destroyed two of the rims in the crash. We didn’t really get a chance to pressure the tyres properly so we went high, and they came in pretty much bang on at the start but then eventually Will was able to create the gap.”
Neale led all the way to the chequered flag to etch his name on the Wigram Cup with Petch second ahead of Noble-Adams and Fletcher.
“We got some good points although I would have preferred not to get the DNF (in Race 3),” said Petch. For his efforts Petch picked up the NAPA Auto Parts Driver of the Day Award.
The South Island Formula Ford Club acknowledge the support from Team Hutchinson Ford. Available across the Formula Ford season is a $60,000 Formula Ford prize pool from the Tony Quinn Foundation with funding for travel and testing opportunities with TOYOTA GAZOO Racing NZ. NAPA Auto Parts has prizes for both Driver of the Day and Rookie of the Year while Yokohama return as the tyre of choice for Formula Ford Racing in NZ.
This summer sees a collaboration between Rodin Cars and MotorSport NZ to create a new pathway to Formula 1 with the NZFF champion and selected Formula Ford drivers invited to an all-expenses-paid, three-day testing and evaluation program with Rodin Cars in New Zealand. From there a driver who exhibits exceptional talent has the possibility to test with Rodin Motorsport in the UK with the possibility of securing a seat in one of Rodin’s F4 teams.
Drivers and teams head to Teretonga Park in Invercargill for the third round in two weeks’ time.
