Photo: Blake Dowdall
New Zealand Formula Ford’s 2025 season kicked off at Timaru this weekend, and Blake Dowdall left as points leader.
Free practice was on Friday, and Will Neale topped FP1 by 0.066 seconds over Dylan Petch with a 1m06.112s. Petch lowered the pace to 1m05.946s in FP2, leading Neale by 0.099s, Toby McCormack by 0.121s and reigning champion Blake Knowles by 0.148s.
Laptimes were even faster in FP3, with Neale returning to the top. He set a 1m05.784s, edging Knowles by 0.13s and Dowdall by 0.143s.
Neale continued to be fastest in qualifying, improving to 1m05.705s to snatch pole by 0.096s from Knowles. Dowdall and Dylan Grant trailed by 0.178s and 0.201s respectively, and McCormack was excluded for breaching technical regulations after going seventh fastest.
The first two races followed on Saturday, then races three and four on Sunday.
Race one was hectic, and Grant jumped up into the lead early on. He managed to hold it, as Neale immediately lost ground on lap one and had to work to reclaim it in the race’s first half while Knowles dropped position after position.
Another to go on a charge was Petch, who entered podium contention in the race’s second half and finished a distant second behind Grant.
There was four-and-a-half seconds between those two, and only half a second between Petch and Neale in third. There was another big gap to Lincoln Taylor in fourth, with James Penrose not too far behind him. Knowles and Dowdall were a lonely sixth and seventh, and McCormack recovered to 12th.
Knowles again had a downwards trajectory early in race two, and Neale held the lead at first but soon ended up squabbling with Knowles. Dowdall passed both and pulled way to win by 1.9s.
Neale triumphed in his fight against Knowles by 0.314s, and Penrose got himself into fourth then held on to that position by 0.154s. He was helped by Petch and Taylor fighting behind him.
Knowles was on course for race three victory before retiring a few laps from the finish (meaning a one-minute penalty for careless driving went unserved), leaving Dowdall in the perfect position to capitalise. Except he was passed by Taylor and then Petch.
Australian racer Taylor’s breakthrough win was earned by 1.359s, and Dowdall held off McCormack for second by 0.375s after Petch – who had risen up from seventh – was disqualified from the runner-up spot for breaching technical regulations.
Neale ran in fourth for much of the race but lost ground late on and finished 10th, albeit with the fastest lap.
Race four was also dramatic, as red flags waved early on. Dowdall led from the start until lap eight, when Neale and Taylor got through. He reclaimed one spot on the penultimate lap, then passed Taylor on the final lap to win.
Neale inherited second once Taylor was penalised five seconds for jumping the start, dropping him to seventh, and Petch was disqualfied due to another technical breach after finishing fourth on-the-road.
Results round-up
Race 1 (10 laps)
1 Dylan Grant 12m40.050s
2 Dylan Petch +4.564s
3 Will Neale +5.014s
4 Lincoln Taylor +8.396s
5 James Penrose +9.053s
6 Blake Knowles +11.653s
7 Blake Dowdall +13.394s
8 Izaak Fletcher +15.417s
9 Jacob Cunniffe +16.175s
10 Jacob Begg +16.980s
Pole: Neale, 1m05.705s
Fastest lap: Grant, 1m13.583s
Race 2 (10 laps)
1 Dowdall 11m10.646s
2 Neale +1.943s
3 Knowles +2.257s
4 Penrose +8.691s
5 Petch +8.845s
6 Taylor +9.214s
7 Jake Bryant +9.617s
8 Jack Noble-Adams +9.749s
9 Grant +10.135s
10 Begg +11.315s
FL: Toby McCormack, 1m06.127s
Race 3 (12 laps)
1 Taylor 14m04.637s
2 Dowdall +1.359s
3 McCormack +1.734s
4 Grant +2.345s
5 Penrose +3.243s
6 Begg +3.989s
7 Bryant +4.595s
8 Noble-Adams +4.999s
9 Cunniffe +5.217s
10 Neale +5.714s
FL: Neale, 1m06.134s
Race 4 (12 laps)
1 Dowdall 22m49.205s
2 Neale +0.563s
3 Grant +1.200s
4 Penrose +4.454s
5 McCormack +4.583s
6 Noble-Adams +5.289s
7 Taylor +5.507s
8 Fletcher +5.625s
9 Bryant +6.465s
10 Begg +6.691s
FL: Dowdall, 1m06.367s
Championship standings
1 Dowdall 262 2 Grant 238 3 Neale 235 4 Taylor 228 5 Penrose 212 6 McCormack 181 7 Begg 165 8 Fletcher 162 9 Cunniffe 153 10 Ryan Denize 121