PRESS RELEASE – Brown for Rookie of the Year and 3rd in the Championship

 

Young Queensland driver Will Brown has stamped his mark as a driver of the future in the final race weekend of the CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship.

The 17-year-old negotiated some skilful racing on the unyielding street circuit of Sydney’s Homebush to not only claim the Rookie of the Year award but also tie up 3rd place in the 2015 championship.

“It was a really exciting round. It came in really close between me, Luis Leeds and Harry Hayek,’ the young driver enthused.

“I came in four points ahead of Harry so it was always going to be a close weekend but to come into the last race tied on points was a bit stressful and nerve-wracking.

‘But we got a good start and finished third and that was enough to give us third place in the championship and Rookie of the Year,” Will said with a huge grin.

It was all foot-to-the-floor, nail-biting, heart-stopping racing on offer for the final race day of the exciting new Formula 4 category.

IQ Option Racing driver Tom Grech unfortunately couldn’t re-join the Championship after a massive crash on Saturday left him with overwhelming repairs.

“It was a pretty disappointing round for us in the end here in Sydney, coming here just hoping to get some good results finally but it is safe to say we have just had some terrible luck this year and unfortunately we didn’t get to go racing today,’ Tom said, still smiling despite his disappointing weekend.

The Top 6 reverse grid for Race 2 had Jimmy Vernon starting from pole in his Toolforce Racing green machine. Jimmy got off to a great start and held his lead for the first lap until Jordan Lloyd took the position.

Then began a series of amazing overtaking moves on a technically difficult track with no room for error. Nick Rowe came off his Saturday night Speedway Racing with a belly full of fire and soon started taking scalps and setting a new lap record on his way to a third place finish.

“Race 2 was a very good experience. We got the lap record, the boys at AGI did an awesome job, I can’t thank Adam enough for having me here,’ Nick said.

A small touch between Will Brown and Jimmy Vernon saw Brown spend the rest of the race with just half a front wing but that didn’t seem to phase the young Queenslander.

Brown soon took his AGI Sport/Cars Galore F4 car to a sixth place finish and a final race shoot out for the Rookie of the Year award. Harry Hayek managed a second place finish to take the Rookie points down to the wire in the final race.

The third race of the weekend had Will Brown in P3 with Rowe in P8, Vernon in P9 and Nick Filipetto rounding out the grid.

Rowe unfortunately came into contact on Turn 2 and quickly found himself at a dead stop. His car was stuck in reverse so Rowe called an end to his weekend.

Toolforce Racing driver Jimmy Vernon also started further down the grid then he would have liked but he drove patiently and held off Harry Hayek for a fourth place finish. However Vernon did cop a five second penalty for weaving after safety car lights went out.

It was a strong finish for the Toolforce Racing driver who has certainly had his share of ups and downs during the season.

“The last few rounds we have been right up the front in the pointy end. We have come home strong and that’s what matters and it gives you a good foundation for the rest of the driving career,” said Jimmy.

AGI Roll Cages entered driver Nick Filipetto brought his Formula 4 ride home unscathed despite having no previous race experience in the car or on a street circuit.

“It was a really amazing experience and I couldn’t have been more grateful for the opportunity. The build up to rolling out and then afterwards the debriefing that goes on,” said Nick clearly loving being behind the wheel.

“I had a spin in Race 1 but my sponsors were really happy because it got a lot of airtime on their car’” said Nick looking on the bright side.

Will Brown was clearly happy with his trophies, “I’d say we will do F4 again, we’re not quite ready to step up to anything else, I’d really like to do another year and really conquer this class.”

The 2016 season of Australian Formula 4 kicks off in Tasmania’s Symmons Plains April 1-3 next year and will take in race tracks up and down Australia’s east coast before ending at New Zealand’s Highlands race circuit.