Two of Australia’s most prominent national racing categories will be the headline acts for Round 2 of the CAMS NSW Motor Racing Championships at Wakefield Park on 1-2 April.
Sports Sedans and Formula Ford have selected the nation’s action track to host a round of their national championships, both categories attracting full fields packed with talented racers from all over Australia.
Following some off-season changes, the spectacular Sports Sedans have attracted a capacity field of 29 cars for the first round of their 2017 title race – the largest turnout for a national series round in a number of years.
With their high-horsepower engines and lightweight bodyshells, Sports Sedans are the fastest tin-top cars in the country and have long been a crowd favourite.
Leading the list of contenders will be current Dunlop Super2 Series driver and Walkinshaw Racing Supercars endurance driver Jack Perkins, who slots into the John Gourlay-owned Audi A4. Perkins currently holds the Sports Sedan lap record at Wakefield Park – his scorching 56.2 second time stands as the fastest-ever lap for a tin-top race car at the 2.2km venue.
Perkins will be challenged by Kerry Bailey, who returns to the series in his Aston Martin DBR9, along with Daniel Tamasi (Holden Calibra) and his son Steven (Nissan 300ZX).
A number of NSW front-runners are also entered including Steve Lacey, Birol Cetin and Grant Doulman, while cars from the expanding TA2 category have also been invited to run in the series.
The winner of the final Sports Sedan race of the weekend will be awarded the coveted Des Wall Memorial Trophy, commemorating the life of the former Sports Sedan racer who passed away in 2012.
Formula Ford will stage the second round of their national series, following an action-packed opening encounter at Sandown earlier in the month. Long recognised as the main breeding ground for future motorsport stars, the series has exploded in popularity this season with 27 cars entered for Wakefield Park.
Jayden Ojeda and Max Vidau are tied at the top of the standings after a dramatic battle at Sandown, while the likes of Liam McLellan, Jordan Boys, Hunter McElrea, Cooper Murray and Harrison Jones also demonstrated front-running pace, leaving the list of potential Wakefied winners wide open.
Formula Ford is not the only open-wheel category at the event, with Formula Race Cars and Formula Vee also appearing on the program.
Formula Race Cars has attracted a strong field with former national F3 competitors Graeme Holmes and John Boothman likely to feature among the front-runners, along with Aaron McClintock.
In the Vees, reigning champion Dylan Thomas enters the weekend as the early favourite with his main opposition likely to come from James Horne.
Production Touring has been one of the strongest categories in the NSW state scene in recent years, and has delivered again with a field of 30 cars. With some regular front-runners moving on and some new faces entering the series, the form is hard to predict and with the mixture of Aussie V8 muscle cars (HSV and FPV), Japanese turbos (Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Evo) and European machines (BMW 135i and 1M), the category will continue to entertain spectators who can relate to the vehicles they see on the track.
Rounding out the program will be Improved Production, which will be split into Over and Under 2 Litre categories, and Supersports, which has attracted a number of PRB Clubman competitors to participate.
