Round 7 Report Matt Gibson Formula First Championship

Round 7 Taupo
With the Championship closing in on us we have
got to make sure we are getting good results. And
with Round 7 at Taupo been and gone I can officially
say we are. Testing on Friday felt good but I couldn’t
make much of a judgement on how the car was
handling as we were running an engine in.
Saturdays qualifying went well with the car handling
great with superb power out of the turns. We had
the car set up brilliantly for the weekend.

Race one on the Saturday morning was a show of how close Formula First racing really is.
I started on row 2 right next to the Championship leader who was on 4th. On the green Iight I jumped ahead of the Car on 4 and was 3rd into turn 1. I stayed that way until the back straight where Ian Foster (championship leader) passed me in my draft. I challenged for the lead numerous times only to be passed again down the back straight. We later put this no top end down to the engine still freeing up from its rebuild. My car was handling like a dream and I was pulling in the leaders every lap in the infield then losing them again down the back straight. I crossed the Chequered Flag in 4th setting the 2nd quickest time.

I started race two from position 3. But as the start line of Taupo is downhill I had to have my brake on which caused me to wheel spin as my clutch wasn’t out far enough. I came into turn 1 in 4th place. Race two was full of surprises. My team mate Bradley McDonald came into contact with another car which caused a safety car. I was 3rd from the restart but got passed back to 4th. Race one winner Michael Shepard had problems with his car and stopped on the main straight. This caused a yellow flag at the chase which was the last passing opportunity we have to pass before the flag. And unfortunately he did this on the last lap right when I was going to make a pass for 3rd. Bad timing huh? But that’s the way racing can go and I finished the race in 4th.

Race three I grabbed a good start and came into turn 1 in 3rd place. But Michael Shepard’s car stopped again so I was soon into 2nd. The race lead changed many times with cars going in all directions to make position. It came down to the last lap and I was in 2nd. Two cars passed me down the back straight but I wasn’t going to give up that easy. I went around the outside of one of the cars in the chase and took 3rd position over the line. A great result.

With one round to go I think I can say that we have secured 4th in the Championship. We would need to finish well down in the field for it to be taken off us. But it would be great to see the last round out with a bang so well do our best.

Next round May 9th and 10th. See you all there.

So until then drive safe and I will see you at the Track
Matt Gibson