It may have been a non-championship round, but when the Minda Motorsport team consisting of CAMS Rising Stars Trent Harrison and Jack Le Brocq and AMSF Rookie Rising Star Jon Collins hit the Eastern Creek circuit over the past weekend, they certainly meant business. As a precursor to the National Championship meet scheduled there in a couple of weeks time, all the top National teams were there to try and gain the upper hand over their rivals.
It proved to be a valuable familiarisation weekend for both the Minda Motorsport team’s new Mygale chassis and for the young drivers - it was Le Brocq’s maiden outing at the Creek while Harrison hadn’t raced at the iconic track for the best part of three years.TESTING
Testing was a combined session consisting of 40 Formula Fords and Formula Vees all on the track at the same time. This meant the guys didn’t get much clear track time prior to qualifying to dial the cars in, however after 20 laps they were confident they’d found good pace.
With no track timing on the Friday, it was hard to measure up against the field however both Le Brocq and Harrison clocked very quick times, and Collins impressed while still finding his feet at what was his first outing at the track in a Duratec.
“It has been a good day with the car set up but there are still a few places where we can improve.” Said Le Brocq
QUALIFYING
At the end of qualifying, Harrison was 2nd, Le Brocq 5th and Collins almost clinching a top 10 spot with a fabulous 11th at his first race against all the national championship contenders. Nick Foster briefly held Pole Position but his time was excluded, moving the boys up a spot and handing Harrison Pole for Race 1.
RACE 1
Cameron Waters managed to beat home the Minda Motorsport pair from 2nd on the grid with Harrison and Le Brocq close behind in 2nd and 3rd for the team’s best result of the season. Collins gained valuable knowledge racing against the more experienced National class guys finishing in 11th place.
RACE 2
A brilliant drive saw Harrison continued the weekend’s trend of winning from second place on the grid with a near perfect performance. Le Brocq was hit by Liam Sager at turn 2, sending him back into 9th place, before charging back through the field to finish 6th . Collins finished in 9th with the fastest lap of the race under his belt – an impressive feat for the Rookie Rising Star.
RACE 3
The third race was cancelled due to a crash in an earlier race.
Harrison was awarded the round win and Le Brocq just missing the podium for the round due to the count back system concludes a fantastic weekend at Eastern Creek for the three drivers and a great launch pad for the upcoming National Formula Ford Championship round there at July 15-17.
