PERCAT TOPS THE TOP END

Nick Percat has taken his third round win for the season in the Australian Formula Ford Championship at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin. In a repeat of race two, Percat was beaten off the line by Sonic teammate Mitch Evans who briefly led the 12-lap race before Percat used the long Hidden Valley straight to slipstream himself back into the lead. “Three from three ... can’t do much better than that!” Percat exclaimed. “Apart from my dodgy starts I’m happy with the way things turned out. Credit to Mitch too – he really had some pace this weekend and pushed me pretty hard,” he added. “Hopefully I can carry this form onto Sandown (round five) next month and redeem my performance there last year.” Evans did his best to hang on to the tail of Percat, but his efforts were in vain as his teammate stretched his lead to over two seconds by the final lap. “I’m happy with second for the round but I think I probably could have looked after my tyres more for a better showing in this final race.” Evans said. “Keeping up with Nick is hard work and for my first time here I’m happy with the result ... a few more laps around here and I would be less prone to some of the mistakes I made which all part of the learning curve I guess.” Ryan Simpson was able to hang onto third place after a great battle with Borland Racing’s Scott Pye and Team BRM’s Richie Stanaway. The trio pushed each other for the duration of the race and were joined by Synergy Racing’s Chaz Mostert who also hustled for a place on the podium. “ Again I made a meal of the start ... the clutch was slipping off the line and I just got bogged down. A shame because I think I had the pace to run with Nick and Mitch which was reflected in the lap times,” Simpson said. “After the start I got caught up with Scott and Richie which provided for some good racing but I would have preferred to be fighting for the lead. I’m looking forward to Sandown now knowing I can run at the front and hopefully will be able to go one or two better.” The next round of the Championship will be round five at Sandown International Raceway in Victoria on July 31 – August 2. Source: Australian Formula Ford Media Release