National Formula Fords return to Tasmania after ten-year hiatus

The Australian Formula Ford Series will return to Tasmania for the first national Formula Ford event in a decade.

Round three of the 2023 Australian Formula Ford Series will be part of the support bill at the Ned Whisky Tasmanian SuperSprint at Symmons Plains this weekend.

The first two rounds, at Morgan Park and Sydney Motorsport Park, produced close racing.

Entering the third round, Team Sonic driver Matt Hillyer leads the points, 21 more than Colin Hill Racing’s (CHE) Zak Lobko. With six races completed, Hillyer who took the Tyres More pole at the last round, has won four and Lobko took out the other two.

Currently third in the series is Hillyer’s teammate Connor Somers who placed second in the first two races at SMP and boosted his points standings after a slow start at Morgan Park. The top three are all racing in the Mygale chassis.

Eddy Beswick, racing for Synergy Motorsport, holds down fourth in a Spectrum, ahead of Xavier Kokai in a Borland Racing Spectrum. Rounding out the top ten are CHE’s Lachlan Strickland, Kobi Williams (Altatek Racing Spectrum), Harrison Sellars (Spectrum), Daniel Frougas (Mygale) and Jake Santalucia (Sonic Mygale).

The National Formula Ford Series returns to the rural Tasmania circuit for the first since 2013. Current Dick Johnson Racing driver Anton De Pasquale won then when he grabbed pole position and was the round victor. He was the winner of one race of the four while the other races were taken out by Sam Power (two) and Ash Quiddington.

The last time the Formula Fords raced in conjunction with the Supercars Championship was at Winton Motor Raceway in 2022, where 2007 Formula Ford Champion, Tim Blanchard, clean swept the event in a one-off return.

There will be a meet and greet this Friday between the current Australian Formula Ford drivers and many past champions and current Supercar drivers. On hand will be Shane van Gisbergen, Cameron Hill, Jack Le Brocq, Chaz Mostert, Nick Percat, David Reynolds, Craig Lowndes and Tim Blanchard.

This weekend Formula Fords are scheduled for two practice sessions on Friday (11.40 and 13.50 AEST) and followed by qualifying at 15:30 AEST. The three races of round three will take place at 08:25 and 12:15 on Saturday, and 10:45 AEST on Sunday.