Round 8 Report Matt Gibson Formula First Championship

2008/2009 National Formula First Championship
Round 8 Taupo
What a finish to the Championship eh?
Testing on the Friday was in atrocious rainy conditions
with cars going off the track left right and centre. Even
I went off the track at one point but soon got straight
back on. On the Saturday we had more tests and a
qualifying session. As we were on the dummy grid waiting
to go out for our qualifying it started to drizzle. This caught
a lot of people out but it dried out enough in the latter
stages of the qualifying for us to qualify the car on
position 3.

Race One on the Sunday was a bad one. The rain was coming down out of the heavens like there was no tomorrow. We had real problems getting the car off the line as it just kept wheel spinning. By turn one I was in 8th place. I managed to get back 7th place but the gap to the next bunch of cars was too great. At one stage I was catching them but had a near off at A1 corner which increased the gap again. Visibility was down to zero and at some stages down the back straight the car would start to wheel spin, and this was at speeds of up to 170kph with your wheels not even on the track surface. Scary stuff huh? But we were not too disappointed with our finish as our lap times were as good the bunch in front of us.

Race two was even worse than the first race. I had problems again off the start and was around 8th by turn one. This position got worse as the top bunch of cars entered the sweeper at the top end of the track. One car spun which made about 4 or 5 others including me having to take evasive action. This caused me to slide off into the kitty litter as the track was still wet. I was lucky enough to get out but when I came back on track I was 15th. I was lucky enough to work my way back to 8th which was better than being 15th but we were still very disappointed.

In Race Three the sun was out and the track was dry. We were ready to make up some ground and get a good finish. My start was again very average but I didn’t lose any positions. The whole race the top 4 drivers in the championship were battling it out. Again Formula First racing at its best. It came down to the last corner, last lap, at The Chase. There were 4 cars all trying to enter the corner at once and I was on the outside. One off the cars locked up his brakes and went straight through the corner, one had to avoid him, one got through safely and I passed the guy who had to slow down and avoid. I came across the line in 3rd but the driver who went off came over the line in 2nd. There was a big hearing and the driver that went through the grass and gained an advantage had 40secs added to his finish time. This meant I grabbed 2nd position. A superb finish.

From a weekend with some disappointing finishes we finally came away with our best finish of the year. A second place. Very happy with the way the car handled and a great finish to the season. We secured 4th overall for the 2008/2009 Formula First Championship.
Until next time, enjoy your driving and I will see you at the track


Matt Gibson