Zac Soutar prevails at Queensland Raceway

Zac Soutar has claimed his second Australian Formula Ford round win after an absolute thriller at Queensland Raceway. Synergy Motorsport's Cody Burcher broke through for an outstanding pole position on Saturday morning, just 7-hundredths of a second clear of Sonic Motor Racing Services' Callum Hedge. Hedge won race one by more than six seconds on a drenched race track, his second consecutive win after his success in Sydney. Cody Burcher and Tom Sargent completed the podium for race one, delicately navigating the "paperclip" amidst the spray of water from the controlled Yokohama A048 tyres. Race two on Sunday morning saw an intense dogfight for the win between Hedge, Soutar and Sargent. The trio battled for supremacy for the entire 12-lap race, in typical Formula Ford fashion. It was Hedge who would triumph, closely tailed by Soutar and Sargent. Soutar curtailed Hedge's winning streak in race three, after taking the lead at turn two during the opening lap of the race. Callum Hedge, who started the race as the championship leader, logged a DNF result after contact with Tom Sargent at turn six. After an investigation by the stewards, a penalty was handed down to Hedge for his role in the incident. Following the Hedge/Sargent tangle, Soutar put his head down and comfortably won the final race by more than 2 seconds, a result that awarded him the overall the round win. Sonic Motor Racing Services' Angelo Mouzouris and CHE's Lachlan Mineeff completed the podium for race three, after the pair enjoyed a clean contest for the final podium steps. Race three and round winner Zac Soutar was very happy with the result from the weekend: "To grab a race and a round win and closing on the championship lead, it’s a weekend you dream of. I’m really looking forward to the next round at Winton", said Soutar after the podium presentation. Sargent managed to drive back through the field to finish race three in eighth, giving him just enough points to re-establish himself as the championship leader. Callum Hedge and Zac Soutar are currently sharing second place in the standings, just four points behind Sargent. Mouzouris is sitting in fourth in the championship, 13 points adrift, while Cody Burcher rounds out the top five. Callum Hedge's two race wins rewarded him with second for the round, despite a DNF in race three, while Cody Burcher enjoyed an unexpected round podium on debut at Queensland Raceway. "It was very unexpected considering that I hadn’t been to this track before. A pole position and second place in the wet and third place for the weekend is fantastic. I can’t thank Synergy Motorsport enough for it", said the Spectrum driver at the end of the weekend. Synergy Motorsport drivers claimed an assortment of awards for their weekend efforts, with Cody Burcher winning the Freem Racewear pole award and Jake Donaldson being handed the CHI Hard Charger award. Queensland Raceway provided yet another exciting weekend of racing with no safety car interruptions. The national championship has now enjoyed six consecutive races without a safety car or red flag interruption. The 2019 Australian Formula Ford Championship is now heading to Winton Motor Raceway, where our competitors will be supporting the Supercars Championship on May 24-26. 2019 AFFC Standings (top 10) 1st - Thomas Sargent - 90pts 2nd - Callum Hedge / Zac Soutar - 86pts 4th - Angelo Mouzouris - 73pts 5th - Cody Burcher - 62pts 6th - Courtney Prince - 59pts 7th - Lachlan Mineeff - 55pts 8th - Jake Donaldson - 54pts 9th - Jay Hanson - 51pts 10th - Cody Donald - 39pts 2019 AFFC calendar Round 1: April 5-7 Sydney Motorsport Park (NSW) - NSW State Championship Round 2: May 3-5 Queensland Raceway (QLD) - RACERS Round 3: May 24-26 Winton Motor Raceway (Vic) - Supercars Round 4: June 21-23 The Bend Motorsport Park (SA) - AMRS Round 5: July 19-21 Sandown Raceway (Vic) - Vic State Championship Round 6: September 6-8 Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW) - NSW State Championship Round 7: September 27-29 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit (Vic) - Vic State Championship