QFFC Round 4 Report: Queensland Raceway, 9-11 August 2024

Queensland Raceway welcomed Formula Ford, Formula Ford 1600 and the Motorsport Australia Queensland Circuit Racing State Championships back to their massively upgraded facility for the second of the two scheduled 2024 visits on August 9th for Practice, kicking off a three-day event.

Matt Dicinoski (#2) emerged in front from a three-wide braking battle ahead of Wes Young (#9) & Tim Hamilton (#87).

---------- Pre-Race ----------

In the lead up to Round 4 it became apparent AJ Gealy would be absent from the grid, but most other regulars would be making an appearance.

Despite being entered Jerry Van de Pol was an ultra-late scratching after a fuel tank issue. These are ship-on-order items from either the USA or UK so sadly there was no chance of fixing it in time. This was a great shame for the category as Jerry proved to be a very strong contender at the last Qld Raceway round and now must wait like all Motorsport Australia categories until November for his next run.

Jordon Behrendorff had his own big news (though kept said news low profile) having acquired a Duratec-powered Spectrum 014 for Formula Ford after Round 3 from Kyle Evans Motorsport. He would also have assistance from Kyle and Kyle’s father Brett across the weekend as he became familiar with his new rig. Jordon only stepped into a race car for the first time, a Kent-powered Formula Ford 1600, at the start of this year, so his learning curve is steep!

Michael Gillespie unloaded a half silver half orange Mygale from the trailer after having rebuilt the car from his Round 3 engine bay fire. It was a huge effort put in by the team to just make it in time and a real credit to them to be out practicing on Friday.

The biggest surprise was the addition of Tony Quinn in his Reynard FF84 Historic Group F. Though other commitments would keep him away on Friday and Sunday he had a great Saturday competing with his Reynard.

---------- Race 1 ----------

From Pole Position, Liam Loiacono in his Forklogic Mygale SJ09 once again became the Sports Car hunter on cold tyres at the start, easily taking a lights to flag victory in Formula Ford and making some of the slicks and wings cars work through the race to get back past him.

Despite a subdued Qualifying performance Jeremy Mattea in the Mattea Motorsport TGG Spectrum 05c was ahead of Tim Hamilton for the start of the final lap, but Hamilton proved he is the class of the FF1600 field in the TYRES PLUS Burleigh Heads Spectrum 010b and would snatch the Kent victory and second overall from Mattea by flag fall.

The battle for fourth and fifth was an all Van Diemen affair which went on for most of the race between Matt Dicinoski and Wes Young, with Dicinoski surviving the pressure from Young at the end.

Having fun behind was Jordon Behrendorff getting quicker (lowering his lap times by 4 seconds in just this session!) as he became more familiar with his new Spectrum, and Tony Quinn in his Historic Group F Reynard.

Overcoming a low qualifying position, Jeremy Mattea (#3) stormed to the lead early ahead of Tim Hamilton (#87).

---------- Race 2 ----------

Liam Loiacono once again sprinted away for the win. This time the Queensland Formula Fords were kept back in their own group for the start, but Loiacono still hunted down some of the Sports Cars by the chequered flag.

At one point Tim Hamilton dropped three places, but gradually he worked back to second place with the final pass around the outside at Turn 4 on Jeremy Mattea.

Mattea held third place commencing the final lap and was fending off the charge from Matt Dicinoski until a mechanical issue brought him to a stop on the exit of Turn 5, giving him a DNF and Dicinoski 3rd place.

Jordon Behrendorff was getting faster each session and this time around finished 4th over Wes Young and Tony Quinn.

Tony Quinn (#17) was a surprise late addition, having last competed in Qld Formula Ford in 2021. Jordon Behrendorff (#34) stepped up to Duratec and made solid progress.

---------- Overnight ----------

After the second race had finished, the paddock quickly became a ghost town. With crews having made light work of spanner checks and little in the way of setup changes being done it seemed everyone was headed home for an early night.

The unlucky Michael Gillespie had a terminal oil system issue during the day which ruled him out for the remainder of the event and will see the back-end of the car coming apart again. Despite this he is as enthusiastic as ever about how much fun and what a challenge the cars are to drive, and will be back for Round 5 in November.

Team Gillespie Racing - the very definition of perseverance - returned with a ground-up rebuilt car in only eight short weeks following a engine-bay fire at Round 3.

---------- Race 3 ----------

The race was interrupted by a red flag for a Radical Sports Car engine failure and resulting oil down. At the time Tim Hamilton was trying to work his way back from last place after a first lap issue, while Matt Dicinoski was charging away as the leading Kent car.

The race resumed under safety car restart procedure and saw Liam Loiacono heading Jordon Behrendorff into Turn 1. Dicinoski bolted away from third leaving Wes Young fending off Hamilton and Jeremy Mattea.

A synchronised drift session by two Sports Cars resulted in one spinning and one errant Radical at Turn 6 that scuttled the pack and gave the field a last lap where Loiacono raced to the win, Hamilton was in front and held off Behrendorff in the race to second and third, Wes Young pickpocketed fourth from Matt Dicinoski in the dying stages, and Jeremy Mattea fell behind with a rough running motor.

---------- Race 4 ----------

It was Liam Loiacono leading all the way from lights out to the checkered flag to take first place, but this time around the ever-quickening Jordon Behrendorff would take second. Starting third and with a good launch he snuck inside Tim Hamilton at the first corner, with Wes Young and Matt Dicinoski duly seizing the opportunity and tucking into the gap opened by Behrendorff, relegating Hamilton to 5th.

A race long battle developed between the three leading Kent cars. Young led early, until Dicinoski emerged in front from a three-wide braking battle into Turn 3. Dicinoski scampered away until Young and Hamilton realised they’d have to work together to slipstream back up to Dicinoski. Hamilton eventually got the tow along the back straight to retake the Kent lead and finish third overall.

It left Dicinoski and Young battling until the very end, ultimately some clever placement by Matt Dicinoski defending fourth ahead of Wes Young after a very entertaining race.

Liam Loiacono (#43) clean swept the Duratec class with immense pace, and now leads the Duratec Championship.

---------- The Wrap ----------

Liam Loiacono takes the Duratec Round Win with a clean sweep. This weekend Liam and his father Paul crewed their car themselves while the BF Racing team completed preparations for the next Australian Formula Ford Series event for the following weekend in Tasmania. Loiacono is well dialed in and ready, and along with BF Racing compatriot Lockie Evennett will be back in action at that Supercars supporting Symmons Plains event August 16-18.

Jordon Behrendorff was the story of the weekend. For perspective there are people who spend years in the tail and mid packs of their first race category, while Jordon spent the weekend getting faster all the time in a car he hadn’t driven before Friday's Practice where he also only has one full and one partial FF1600 race meeting to his credit prior. While he is some way off Loiacono-level pace, by the end of the weekend he was clearing away from some of the fastest Kent-powered cars in the country and based on relative experience and the steepness of the learning curve, that is a great effort. The rest of the lap time only gets harder to find from here, but it was an excellent first outing in a Duratec-powered car worthy of noting.

Formula Ford Duratec podium presentation (L to R): Liam Loiacono (1st) & Jordon Behrendorff (2nd).

In Formula Ford 1600 (Kent) it was Tim Hamilton all the way, but as has been the case through the year he was not able to drive away from the field and instead battled his way to the front several times.

Matt Dicinoski continues to show flashes of speed, especially when in clear air at the front, and will only benefit from getting to log more time in both a car and a category that is still relatively new to him. Dicinoski takes home second in FF1600 and had his son with him as an assistant during the podium presentation.

Wes Young continues to be the fighter of the group; he does not let an opportunity go untested if he can get a way past, or keep behind him, another competitor. In the washup he was just shy of overhauling Dicinoski on points but ultimately takes home third in FF1600.

Formula Ford 1600 Kent podium presentation (L to R): Matt Dicinoski (2nd), Tim Hamilton (1st), Wes Young (3rd). Young is making inroads, rapidly hunting down 2nd in the Kent Championship with a round to go.

---------- Next up ----------

To round out the year we will have the dual QFFC Round 5 and Australian Formula Ford 1600 Nationals at Morgan Park on November 8th to 10th. If the racing during the last Morgan Park event back in June is anything to go by, we are in for a ding-dong battle for the AFF1600NATS crown when a grid of Kent-powered Formula Ford 1600s arrive from around the country!

Race Report and Images by Tony Chapman