ROUND 4 HIDDEN VALLEY, DARWIN
With the bleak cool weather of winter seemingly long behind us, the Formula Ford Championship rolls on to the Northern Territory, and Darwin’s beautiful Hidden Valley circuit.
If a straw poll was taken by driver’s and spectators alike, Darwin would surely rate in the top 3 racetracks we have in Australia, as it has always provided a challenge and super close racing! So with that in mind, Nick Percat was looking to create a few pieces of history in 2009 at one of his favourite bits of bitumen….
With History on his side, Nick had the amazing record leading into round 4 of winning every race he has contested at “The Valley”! That being 4 wins racing in the huge 45 car 2006 Aussie Racing Car series, and last year winning 3 from 3 in Formula Ford.
Could he be beaten in the heat? We were soon to find out…
Friday was Practice day with two sessions held in perfect conditions, Percat once again putting on a driving display for the great Friday crowd in attendance stopping the clock at the end of both sessions in 1st, fastest by 6 tenths and 7 tenths! A staggering time considering the same amount of time covered the next 11 cars!!
“Today went like clock work for me, we rolled out with our base setup and just chipped away at a few things, but really the car was pretty good from the outset, and I think really there is more in just driving it a little bit better than the next guy” said a content Percat on returning to his SONIC garage.
Saturday morning brought another glorious day in the sun, with Qualifying held early in the morning the drivers would be looking to set some super quick lap times in the up coming 20 minute timed session.
Percat rolled out at 9:25am with the entire field breathing down his neck into turn 1… however, unlike most events this track rewards a driver that only leans on the new tyre once it is totally up to the job of giving maximum grip, so with the racing brain of an F1 driver, Nick lead the field around at his own pace for the first lap, only to coast down the front straight letting the others blast on by. To most pundits, this would be a big call, as running at the front usually has it’s advantages. However Percat knew he had to nurse the tyre till lap 3 to get the most out of it, and that he did, setting a new Qualifying lap record at 1 min 12.0 on lap 4.
“Very happy to get Pole again here in Darwin, but I was aiming for a bit more in the lap time department!! As I planned my lap to be lap 3 and had it nailed for a mid 11 but I lost a lot of time in the final segment with a big oversteer moment…but we managed to gather it all up to still get Pole” Said Percat, who, ever the perfectionist actually thought that a 10 might have been on the cards if he really hung it all out!
Race 1 held in hot conditions, was a classic Formula Ford dice for all 12 laps, with Percat’s Sonic team mate Mitch Evans taking the lead into turn 1 having taken full advantage of the clean side of the grid to maximum effect and launching into the lead. That didn’t last long however as Percat sailed into the lead after lap 1 and was to lead over the start finish line for the remaining 11 laps and win by less than a tenth of a second!
“Wow! Super dice there with Mitch, he is really pushing me today, so full credit to him and the team for coming here with such good cars! To win here is special to me, as I have a lot of history here and that also ticks off 18 wins for me in National Formula Ford Championship, all coming since November 2007″ said a smiling Nick on returning to the cheers of his team.
Sunday was another idyllic day in the sun, with Races 2 and 3 looking to be tightly fought out at the front with anyone from the top 6 having the pace to win.
Starting race 2 from pole position, Nick once again had to follow Evans as it was his team mate who once again got the drive off the line in the drag race down to turn 1. Mitch got off to a mighty start, leading the chasing pack by 1 second after the first lap, and looked hard to beat till lap 3…
“I got a pretty good start I thought, but not as good as Mitch! And I was pretty happy at that stage to follow him until my tyres had come up to full race pressures, as I had a handy margin already to the guys behind me” said Percat.
With that in mind, it was lap 3 that Percat set out to real in Evans, and did so decisively into the hard braking area of turn 1, with Nick going on to win by 4 tenths of a second.
The final race of the weekend was shaping up to be a ding dong battle, as the lap times from the previous races were pointing out that it really was anyone who could win the final battle at the Valley…
Race 3 started as a carbon copy of race 2, with Mitch leading the way for the first 3 laps, before Percat once again chose his time to take the lead. However this time it was about putting on a driving display of epic proportions and not saving the tyres as they only had to last till lap 12.
At one stage the lead was out to over 5 seconds, which in such a tight field, was truly an amazing lead. Percat then slowed at the finish to thank his team who were all over the pitwall as he crossed the line to take his 10th win in 2009.
“Just a dream to win all 3 again here in Darwin, what can I say…. I’m very humbled to have my name at the top of the list of all time winners in Formula Ford, this also being the 40th anniversary of the category.” Said Percat, now with a record that could take some beating, currently at 20 wins with 12 more races this year to come!!!
Percat now leads the championship with 205 points at the halfway mark, with team mate Mitch Evans on 136 tied with Scott Pye.
It took 15 years for someone to win more than 17 races in Formula Ford, and now Nick Percat has set the bar higher again at 20! And in less races than the previous record holder….
With some of the names on the trophy’s handed out by Margaret Hardy over the last decades alone sounding like a racing dream team :-
Webber, Lowndes, Davison x2, Ingall, Tander ,Whincup, Power, Kelly x 2, Brabham, to name a few who are still at the top of their game to this day.
Nick Percat has joined an elite group of drivers, and at such a young age…. Will the future be as bright as the stars above? The only thing lacking in his pursuit is the financial backing to see him take on the world…. Be that Formula One, or any other top level category.
Is Australia willing to back the best young driver to ever come through Formula Ford?