F4 - Australian Championship Round Five - Sandown Preview
Supporting the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship at the inaugural round of the Pirtek Enduro Cup, championship stakes are high in the Australian Formula 4 Championship with Team BRM’s Will Brown leading ahead of AGI Sport’s Nick Rowe and Team BRM's Jordan Love.
“Last year wasn’t the greatest round but we’re looking forward to it this year,” Brown said.
“I really want to make sure that there’s no crashes so that I don’t lose any points, and just maintain in the top three.”
With a string of podium finishes from Rowe, the West Australian pilot is also aiming for consistency at Sandown despite not previously racing a Formula 4 at Sandown.
“We’ve been slowly building up to some race wins and round wins, so hopefully at Sandown we can have a good run and get back to the front of this championship and really put on a good show at the last round [on the Gold Coast],” Rowe said.
Love is only ten points behind Rowe in the championship standings, and the Team BRM pilot hopes his Sandown experience will be another positive experience.
“Only two more rounds to go, I’m really looking forward to Sandown,” Love said.
“I raced there last year and loved it. Hopefully we can be quick there, but anything can happen and we’ll do everything we can.”
New Arrival
Cody Donald, KA3 frontrunner in the Australian Kart Championship, will pilot a second Junior Racing Development prepared Formula 4 for his national circuit racing debut.
The 16-year-old Victorian will partner up with fellow karting graduate Tyler Everingham, with Donald using the weekend as critical race experience as he prepares for a 2017 campaign.
“I am really looking forward to the Sandown event. I am trying to put together a full F4 program for 2017 and will use this round to gain valuable experience,” Cody said.
“I have never been on the Sandown circuit so there are no set goals other than to finish all the sessions and races, every lap is just so important.”
Entry List
7.
Tyler Everingham
JRD
23.
Brenton Grove
Team BRM
26.
Harry Hayek
Team BRM
27.
Simon Fallon
DREAM
51.
Josh Conroy
DREAM
60.
Cody Donald
JRD
68.
Jack Smith
AGI Sport
79.
Jordan Love
Team BRM
91.
Josh Denton
Team BRM
97.
Nick Rowe
AGI Sport
99.
Will Brown
Team BRM
Burson Rookie of the Year Standings
The championship battle amongst the Burson Rookie of the Year drivers remains very close with only six races remaining for the year across two rounds.
Team BRM’s Josh Denton leads AGI Sport’s Jack Smith by only three points.
“I haven’t been there before, but from what I’ve heard it’s been a bit bumpy,” Denton said.
“I’m sure it’s a really good track. I don’t think we’ll use much of the kerbs but I’m definitely looking forward to it. Especially learning a new track. It should be good."
“Expectations for Sandown is just to continue moving forward and making gains,” Smith said.
“We haven’t been to the track so hopefully we learn it quickly and continue moving forward.
DREAM Motorsport teammates Simon Fallon and Josh Conroy lie third and fourth in the rookie standings, albeit separated by two points.
Retro Round
The Wilson Security Sandown 500 this weekend celebrates the Retro Round, despite the average age of a Formula 4 driver being 18.
Responses were varied amongst the drivers between rumbling old school V8 machinery, and high-pitched V10 Formula 1 machinery of last decade.
“Dad’s got a couple of old GT Falcons and SLR Toranas so I wouldn’t mind having a run in one of their race cars back in the day,” Brown said.
“2004 Ferrari F1 car, that’d be alright!” Rowe said.
“Probably an old school V8, one of the old touring cars I reckon that’d be good fun,” Love said.
“An old F1 car would be cool like a 2000s car or a bit later than that. The aero, grip and straight line speed they have would be phenomenal,” Grove said.
“Probably one of Marcos Ambrose’s Pirtek cars,” Denton said.
“A retro Formula 1,” Everingham said.
Championship Standings
1.
211
BRM
2.
180
AGI
3.
170
BRM
4.
110
BRM
5.
88
BRM
6.
85
AGI
7.
73
DREAM
8.
71
DREAM
9.
69
JRD
10.
67
BRM
11.
26
JMM
Schedule
Friday 16 September
9:05am: Practice One
12:00pm: Practice Two
2:15pm: U Race It Pole Position
5:15pm: Race One (13 laps)
Saturday 17 September
11:20am: Race Two (13 laps)
Sunday 18 September
9:05am: Race Three (13 laps)
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