CAMS Rising Stars kick off Formula Ford season in Adelaide

August 05, 2011

CAMS Rising Star Formula Ford drivers Trent Harrison and Jack LeBrocq have survived a bruising opening round of the Australian Formula Ford Championship on the streets of Adelaide.

The duo, driving brand new Mygale chassis run by Minda Motorsport, managed to finish the round in the top 10, helping set up a solid platform from which to build over the upcoming rounds.

For Harrison – driving the team’s #12 Mygale SJ11a – it was a weekend that started with difficulty.
Mechanical problems left him a lowly 14th in qualifying, however the young Victorian drove two very
strong races to work his way through to eighth place in Race 1 (which became seventh when another
driver was excluded) and fourth in Race 2.

LeBrocq – driving the team’s #49 entry – also had to fight back through the field after making a small
mistake in the turn 4 braking area in Race 1 and running down an escape road.
He managed to rejoin and climbed back up to finish 14th before piecing his way through a Race 2 that was packed with carnage.

LeBrocq had worked his way to a very solid fourth place before contact at the final corner while trying to take third sent him back to eighth place by the time he crossed the line. Post-race he was given a five-championship point penalty, but remains positive as the series now takes a two-month break before the next round at Winton in Victoria on May 14-16.

Round 1 of the Australian Formula Ford Championship will be telecast on 7mate on Sunday April 3 at
9.00am.

QUOTEBOOK

Trent Harrison
“We had been floating in third or fourth in qualifying and that lap time was set despite being stuck in
traffic. But then we had a mechanical problem and everyone else went faster and we didn’t get another
lap in.

“The first race was good. I managed to get back up to eighth and at least get some championship points – and then we had the bonus of another car being excluded so that moved us up another place. “There’s a new tyre compound in Formula Ford so we have a bit of work to do to learn more about it. We only had a couple of test days before the start of the season so now we’ve got some time to do some more.

“We’ve got some ideas on some shock changes and I think we’ll only go forward from here. Given the
qualifying, it was a good turn around for the weekend.”

Jack LeBrocq

“In Race 1 my foot slipped off the brake pedal going into turn 4. By the time I caught it again, it was too late and I went down the escape road. I was in the top 10 at the time but that dropped me back to
virtually last. “I was pretty gutted about that but we had a good fight back after that.

“Race 2 was alright until the last lap. I was in fourth spot and went to make a move up the inside to take another one. From my view, there was racing room there but the officials didn’t see it that way and the contact meant I have a five-point penalty.

“The new tyre compound has totally changed the car, so we started on the back foot at the beginning of the weekend. We found this tyre doesn’t have the same sort of time gain when they are brand new as opposed to the old ones.

“We struggled a bit with understeer for most of the weekend in the slow speed, first and second gear
corners, but we’ve got some testing coming up and we’ll be busy getting ready for Winton in the
meantime.”

2011 AUSTRALIAN FORMULA FORD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1 RESULTS

1 Tom Williamson, Spectrum 012, 34
2 Jesse Fenech, Spectrum 012, 26
3. Nick Cassidy, Mygale SJ11a, 22
4. Cameron Waters, Mygale SJ11a, 21
5. Garry Jacobson, Mygale, SJ08a, 20
6. Trent Harrison, CAMS Rising Star Mygale SJ11a, 18
7. Nick Foster, Mygale SJ11a, 16
8. Pete Major, Stealth S3, 10
9. Tom Goess, Mygale SJ08a, 4
10. Jack Lebrocq, CAMS Rising Star Mygale SJ11a, 4