Reigning champion Robert Wolk (AfintaPart Mygale) and Steven Morris (InvestChem Mygale) shared wins in the opening round of the South African Formula Ford Championship in the Vodacom Power Tour races at AA Kyalami yesterday.
Wolk qualified in pole position and drove to an untroubled 3-second win in the first race ahead of last season’s championship runner-up David Veringa (Sabat Van Diemen). The latter had to fight his way into second after a poor start, setting the fastest lap of the day in the process.
Jayde Kruger (Wap Alto Mygale) equalled his best ever result with third after fending off Veringa in the early stages of the race. He finished just 0.2 seconds behind the former Formula Vee Champion.
Donovan Howard (Wap Alto Mygale) came home fourth ahead of Ford Development driver Jennifer Murray (Ford Credit Van Diemen), the latter suffering a puncture during the race. Leslie Reynolds (Wap Alto) finished sixth after battling all weekend with an ill-handling car.
Race two saw Wolk lead initially, but Morris soon fought his way to past Veringa and Kruger to challenge the leader. He had retired in the first race with a fuel pump failure, but the car ran faultlessly in this race allowing him to overtake Wolk before mid-distance and hold on for the win.
Veringa took advantage of Morris’s move on Wolk to claim second, and then kept the leader honest to finish less than a second in arrears at the flag. Wolk held on for third ahead of Kruger, Howard and Reynolds. Murray retired after five laps with a poor handling car.
Wolk and Veringa share the championship lead with 17 points after round one, followed by Kruger on 11 and Morris on 10.
First overall: Robert Wolk
“It was nice to start the season with pole position and a win in the first race, but I was not entirely pleased with Steven’s overtaking manoeuvre in the second race. Anyway, we had a good weekend and I am happy to be leading the championship, although I would have preferred to have been out front on my own.”
Second overall: David Veringa
“I am relatively happy with today’s result. Co-leading the championship is not a bad start to the year, but naturally I would have preferred to have won both races. It’s a better start points wise than last year though, so I am confident for the rest of the year.”
Race two winner: Steven Morris
“I am amazed at the result we got today. We only pulled the car out from under the covers on Monday after it had not turned a wheel for 18 months, so to get a win was awesome. On Thursday I would never have thought we could win, but in the first race I felt that we had the potential to win so it was disappointing for the fuel pump to fail. Winning the second race was very sweet.”
Championship points after round 1:
1) Robert Wolk, David Veringa 17
3) Jayde Kruger 11
4) Steven Morris 10
5) Donovan Howard 9
6) Lesley Reynolds 6
Points scoring: 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
