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Young Gun Edges Out Title Combatants For Pole In Formula Ford |
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Friday, 08 December 2006 |
 Joshua Scott has become the youngest ever pole sitter in Australian Formula Ford Championship history, edging out championship contenders John Martin and Tim Slade at Phillip Island today.
Earlier this morning in practice, Ashley Walsh and Kristian Lindbom set
the early pace while championship contenders Slade and Martin were
running fourth and seventh respectively.
As the time slipped away, Slade in the Dexion Van Diemen RF04 found it
difficult to improve on his position but Martin sounded an ominous
warning to his rival by topping the timesheets with a 1:40.1929, while
Slade was eighth just under half a second off the pace.
Walsh was second in practice ahead of Nathan Caratti from Fastlane Racing and CAMS driver Lindbom, all within 0.1 seconds of Martin.
Early in qualifying Martin and Scott traded pole position before a red flag halted the session after three completed laps.
Racing resumed and after another brief stop the field resumed with only enough time left in the session to post two final flying laps.
Martin and Scott, both in Borland Spectrum 011's, kept themselves up the front but the big improver was Slade who after struggling for pace early on set his fastest lap of the day on his final lap to give him third position just 0.1345 off pole.
Championship rival Martin and teammate Scott made sure they would make it a one-two with the youngster Scott upstaging the title contenders setting a pole time of 1:39.2177, while Martin was just 0.0539 adrift.
Having just turned 17 years old, Scott was thrilled with his first ever pole position in the series and became the youngest pole sitter in the competitions history, having already become the youngest race winner earlier this year.
"We had two tests here this year which helps and we had really good speed from the first practice session so I'm thrilled to get my first pole," Joshua Scott said.
Right behind Scott, the two combatants will again be going toe-to-toe, and with just three points separating them in the chase for the title all eyes will be on the front rows of the grid.
The first race of the final round of the Australian Formula Ford Championship is on at 12.55pm tomorrow with the final two races on Sunday.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 08 December 2006 )
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