Gaius Ghinn victorious in first FFord Festival progression race

Photo: Ida Wood

Gaius Ghinn won the first of the Formula Ford Festival’s two progression races on Sunday morning.

The top 12 finishers from each of Saturday’s four heats progressed directly into the semi-finals, with everyone else getting a second opportunity to join those grids by contesting a progression race.

Having finished 13th in the fastest heat, Gaius Ghinn started on pole for progression race one ahead of Antony Denham, Gerhard Hauschulte and FFord veteran Wil Arif.

Ghinn made a bad start, wheel-spinning out of his grid slot before finding traction. At that point Denham was already alongside, but could not remain there entering Paddock Hill Bend.

By the end of lap one, Hauschulte was alongside Denham on the inside and he managed to snatch second place. Mk8 Motorsport’s Oliver Buckton, who had started fifth, was all over Denham at the bottom of the hill but could not find room at Druids to attempt an overtake.

Next time by, Buckton was on the inside of Denham all the way through Druids but the latter had the preferred line down into Graham Hill Bend where Graham Brunton Racing driver Brian Graham flew off and rejoined down the order.

There was also an incident at the back, as MSA Motorsport’s Sigbjorn Maehlum ended his race in the gravel at Druids and the safety car was required.

Once his car was pulled back on track and he drove to the pits, racing was able to resume on lap seven.

Buckton again attacked on the inside approaching Druids, but tucked back in behind Denham when they reached the corner. He was able to have a look at McLaren, then utilised the slipstream down the pit straight to attempt a move around the outside as lap eight began.

Despite some sliding that sent him across the runoff exiting Paddock Hill Bend, Buckton remained committed and therefore had the outside line for Druids. That proved disadvantageous, but the slipstream out of Clearways meant he could try again on lap nine.

He moved to Denham’s left early and got the pass done before Paddock Hill Bend, then went chasing Hauschulte but double-waved yellow flags at the start of the pit straight due to youngster Birk Larsen crashing out made it harder to close in.

Throughout that action, Ghinn had kept it under control up front to lead a Van Diemen RF91 one-two. Victory also provided him a platform on the race broadcast to correct a decade of his name being pronounced incorrectly by commentators, having never done so previously despite his many years racing in FFord.

Completing the top six that made it through to the semi-finals were Marc Sawer and Arif, with Matthew Sturmer the first to miss out. Graham ended up finishing the race in 10th.

Progression race 1 results (10 laps)