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Want To Win Bathurst...win Formula Ford! |
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Thursday, 12 October 2006 |
Bathurst has been run and won, and quick look through the top five co-driver combinations reveals a clear path to success at the mountain and V8 Supercars...Formula Ford.
Of the ten drivers to finish in the top five this year in Bathurst, over half are Formula Ford Champions.
Significantly all of Ford's drivers in the top five at the mountain last weekend have won a Formula Ford Championship widely acclaimed as the world's premier open wheeled development category, except for the legendary Glenn Seton, who in recognition of the importance of the category has become the Official mentor to the 2006 Formula Ford Championship drivers.
Leading the charge are Bathurst winners Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup, both Formula Ford Champions who won the great race for Ford for the first time since 1998.
Lowndes won the 1993 national title in a self-prepared Van Diemen RF03, while Whincup took the title ahead of fellow V8 Supercar driver Mark Winterbottom and Marcus Marshall for team Sonic in 2002, again in a Van Diemen.
Another of Ford's young guns, James Courtney made his way from karting champion to British Formula Ford Champion in 2000 while reigning V8 Supercar champion Russell Ingall won his Formula Ford title in 1990.
Ingall's co-driver Luke Youlden also has his name on the trophy courtesy of his national championship in 2000.
While the Ford connection is clearly evident, the other side of the fence is almost as impressive with Steven Richards winning the championship in 1994 while the Kelly brothers, Todd and Rick, also competed in Formula Ford with success.
But perhaps the most telling statistic for Formula Ford being the premier development category in the country is the every Formula Ford champion from 1992-2002 also competed in the Bathurst 1000.
"Besides V8 Supercars, Formula Ford is probably the best recognised Australian category worldwide...this is because the depth of competition is so great and the cars are very similar, so the best driver/car combination wins the championship," Craig Lowndes said today.
"Drivers that win the championship are of the highest quality and it is reflected at the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch where everyone respects the national champions, no matter what country they are from, as they know the amount of effort that goes into winning a Formula Ford championship."
The penultimate round of the 2006 Australian Formula Ford Championship is at Symmons Plains, Tasmania on 10-12 November.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 11 December 2006 )
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