Taupo International Motorsport Park hosted the final round of the Promains Formula Open New Zealand Series and what a way to end the season the racing was the closest we have seen all season and a new lap record to boot.
Zac Christensen (FT40) (main photo) went into the weekend with a sizable lead in both the Fitness Portal Jim Palmer Cup class and the overall series lead in the Promains Howden Ganley Cup. Zac drove with maturity and restraint all weekend to ensure he did not have a mechanical or an off in order to cement his points advantage.
Series newcomer Hayden Bakkerus dominated the Jim Palmer Cup with three class pole positions, three class wins and fastest class lap. The difference between he and Christensen’s lap times were minuscule and we look forward to seeing this young man in a full season next year up against Zac. With addition of another couple of young up and coming drivers in the Tatuus FT40’s this class is the breeding ground for our next generation of TRS drivers.
So Zac Christensen becomes the 2023 Promains Formula Open Champion and the winner of the prestigious Howden Ganley Cup and also the winner of the Fitness Portal FT40 class and taking the Jim Palmer Cup.
Taking nothing away from this young man’s victory the racing in this class for the weekend was a little bit processional as Zac just needed to circulate to cement his win and getting into a battle with Hayden Bakkerus and Leo Francis could have jeopardised that lead he had, so good intelligent racing from this young man.
The real excitement however came in the Black Fox Electrical Graeme Lawrence Cup with Kaden Probst, Liam Sceats and Sam MacNeill each getting a pole, a third, second and a race win. Liam Sceats managed to pip James Watsons Lap record by a mere 100th of a second to leave it standing at 1:24:509. He also managed to get pole in qualifying which would prove to be vital at the end of the day.
Race one saw an epic battle at the front between Sceats and Probst with later getting the better start only to have Sceats get back in front at the end of the fourth lap in a late braking dive at the end of the Broadlands Straight setting a new lap record in the process. This however was not the end as Probst applied the blow torch and forced Liam into an uncharacteristic error and he went wide at turn 9 letting Kaden back in front to take the win by 3 tenths of a second with MacNeill a further 4.9 seconds adrift in third.
Race two had Probst on Pole with Sceats alongside, MacNeill in third and Hayden Bakkerus starting fourth in the first of the FT40’s. At lights out Probst got it wrong into turn one and Sceats got baulked dropping down to fifth and MacNeill grabbing a lead that he would not relinquish despite a lot of pressure from Probst and a recovering Sceats the three crossed the line nose to tail in that order with less than half a second covering all three of them.
Race three and this time it was MacNeill on Pole with Probst alongside and Sceats in third with Crabb getting into fourth slot. This was another epic scrap at the front with Liam Sceats finally getting through to make a decent sized gap to take the final race of the season by 3.3 seconds, the largest winning margin of the weekend. MacNeill came home second with Probst challenging on the line. So at the end of the days racing all three drivers were tied on 59 points so the results were calculated on fastest lap and qualifying times which left Liam Sceats on 63, Kaden Probst on 61 and Sam MacNeill on 60.
So ends the fourth season of Formula Open New Zealand with next season looking like bigger fields and a new class. With up to ten Formula Atlantics campaigning next season they will have a class of their own leaving just the FT50’s to campaign for the own class and with eleven of them entering there will be some fierce battles.
The most exciting thing though is we will have seven FT40’s available to young drivers and with some great incentives on the way Formula Open New Zealand will be one of the best classes racing in 2023/24. Roll on the Ice Breaker meeting at Hampton Downs 23rd and 24th September 2023.
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