Photo: Great South Photography
The Spectrum 015-driving Marco Manson tops the standings at the halfway point of the New Zealand Formula Ford season.
Round one was at Teretonga on January 23-25, and Manson showed he was the driver to beat from the off by topping practice. He had a 0.429-second gap to Maxim Kirwan in second place, and 0.52s to Toby Musico in third.
His advantage grew in qualifying, as he clinched pole for the season-opening race by 1.316s. Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi was second, with Dylan Petch and Campbell Owens the only other drivers within 1.7s of Manson.
However it was a different story in the race itself, which was soaking wet. Manson had a super slow start and was fifth before the opening corner. Eskandari-Marandi took the lead by avoiding wheelspin off the line, but could do little up front as the safety car was summoned due to Musico skating off into turn one’s gravel trap.
Racing resumed on lap six, and Petch looked to either side of Eskandari-Marandi at turn one as Manson flew off but carried enough speed to eventually rejoin the track at the back. Petch then had to hold off Owens, and on lap seven Kirwan mirrored Manson’s off. Toby McCormack was next to go off there, but he got beached and it led to the race finishing behind the safety car and Manson finishing ninth.
It remained wet the next day for race two, which used the same grid. Manson again started badly, losing two places before getting back past Jacob Begg with greater speed exiting turn one. Owens made contact with Musico and sent him off, triggering a safety car period that lasted until the end of lap four and earning himself a 10s penalty.
Manson reclaimed the lead down the pit straight as the field returned to racing speeds, while Izaak Fletcher fell from fourth to sixth through turn one.
There was a 2.5s gap between Manson and Eskandari-Marandi on lap seven when he flew through the gravel at turn three but again maintained enough speed to emerge from the other side of it and rejoin the track in eighth.
Eskandari-Marandi kept the lead to the finish, and on the final lap Owens swept around the outside of Begg at turn one in a move he ‘wasn’t expecting to stick’. His penalty dropped him to eighth though, and Begg ended up holding off Petch for second by 0.105s.
Manson went on a charge, going from eight seconds behind the leader to 2.86s by the end as he recovered to fifth.
Drivers’ fastest laps from the weekend until that point set the dry race three’s grid, so Manson got another pole ahead of Owens.
The first pressure on the poleman came at the last corner on laps two and three. Next time by, Owens was all over Manson the whole lap and a group formed with Petch and Fletcher. Petch got on Owens’ inside at the final corner, and through turn one on lap five Owens lost two places. He reclaimed third around the outside of turn one a lap later, and the lead fight was reinvigorated on lap nine when Manson had a big slide.
Petch got alongside him all the way to the exit of turn one on lap 10, and on lap 13 that lasted until turn three where Manson braked late to stay ahead. He was alongside through the lengthy turn one again on lap 14, but then he lost out to Owens as lap 15 began.
Owens’ favoured attack spot once into second was also turn one, and when Petch tried pressuring Manson too he got baulked and lost third to Musico. He had been picking off drivers, and taken fourth from Fletcher during lap 14.
Lap 18 began with Manson leading by 0.094s, and Owens almost had contact with him as they went through turn one. That was the last attack, while Eskandari-Marandi rose from seventh to fifth in a three-wide photo finish.
Round two took place at Timaru on January 30-February 1, and Manson led the way in practice again. This time his advantage around the shorter circuit was 0.412s over Kirwan. That was slashed to 0.053s in qualifying, and Fletcher was only 0.072s off pole. Owens trailed by 0.193s in fourth, Eskandari-Marandi was sixth and 0.5s split the top 11.
Manson led lights-to-flag in race one, finishing 1.959s ahead of Kirwan. Owens had an off after the same corner on lap one and two, which cost him third to Fletcher. He slipstreamed back past on lap three, and after Fletcher pitted Eskandari-Marandi was next to challenge him. They traded places on lap five, and Petch soon got past too.
Owens then repeated his earlier off, and finished sixth before a five-second driving standards penalty for Eskandari-Marandi meant he moved up to fifth.
Manson had another lights-to-flag success in race two. Jake Bryant made a great launch to get into second and initially distance himself from Kirwan, but the front row starter was back ahead by turn three of lap two.
There was a brief off for Manson but he was untroubled, and Bryant held on for the rest of the race to make the podium. Eskandari-Marandi overtook Fletcher for fourth on lap six, and Owens was close behind until Musico went into his side at the hairpin on the last lap. He had dropped to ninth by the finish, but gained back a spot once Musico was penalised.
Race three was the next day, with the same top two on the grid. Matthew Basso started third, ahead of Fletcher, Bryant, Owens and Eskandari-Marandi.
Kirwan took the lead on lap two after Manson put a wheel off, and on lap four Manson used the slipstream to get back ahead at the end of the back straight. They remained super close, and had not shaken off Basso when the safety car appeared on lap eight as a kerb hit led to Petch losing a wheel and crashing out.
Red flags waved on lap nine, which was where the restarted behind the safety car. Three laps of racing remained following that, and Manson initially got the jump but the slipstream effect brought his chasers back onto him. Basso overtook Kirwan on lap 10, and at the end of the back straight on lap 11 he got back past on the inside while Owens overtook Fletcher around the outside for fourth. Bryant had previously held fifth until he cut the chicane at the start of lap eight.
The victory fight came down to the last lap, and Kirwan squeezed down Manson’s inside at the end of the back straight to make the winning move.
Manson lined up on pole again in race four, ahead of Musico, Kirwan and Eskandari-Marandi. Kirwan took second on lap two, and Manson got defensive against him on lap four but Kirwan still found a way through as a four-car fight formed.
A lap later, Manson swept around the outside at the end of the back straight to snatch back the lead. Kirwan kept on his gearbox until a wide moment on lap seven meant he lost out to Musico and then Eskandari-Marandi. Third place returned to Kirwan on lap eight, and Musico’s robust defending against him after that allowed Manson to pull away to win. Kirwan did get his overtake done on lap 10, echoing the move Manson had made on him.
Results round-up
Teretonga race 1 (10 laps)
1 Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi 17m09.576s
2 Dylan Petch +0.565s
3 Campbell Owens +1.210s
4 Jacob Begg +1.519s
5 Izaak Fletcher +1.887s
6 Matthew Basso +2.794s
7 William Beck +3.832s
8 Olivia Lorenzen +7.371s
9 Marco Manson +7.640s
10 Maxim Kirwan +8.546s
Pole: Manson, 1m13.638s
Fastest lap: Manson, 1m14.390s
Teretonga race 2 (13 laps)
1 Eskandari-Marandi 19m04.922s
2 Begg +1.894s
3 Petch +1.999s
4 Fletcher +2.364s
5 Manson +2.863s
6 Kirwan +6.962s
7 Basso +8.209s
8 Owens +10.334s
9 Beck +46.538s
10 Lorenzen +1 lap
FL: Manson, 1m12.174s
Teretonga race 3 (18 laps)
1 Manson 19m30.395s
2 Owens +0.754s
3 Toby Musico +0.850s
4 Petch +1.139s
5 Eskandari-Marandi +5.510s
6 Begg +5.590s
7 Basso +5.603s
8 Fletcher +5.722s
9 Kirwan +5.747s
10 Beck +34.943s
FL: Owens, 1m03.533s
Timaru race 1 (10 laps)
1 Manson 11m05.818s
2 Kirwan +1.959s
3 Petch +11.393s
4 Jake Bryant +11.683s
5 Owens +12.343s
6 Toby McCormack +15.116s
7 Eskandari-Marandi +15.549s
8 Begg +16.011s
9 Cameron Freeman +19.191s
10 Beck +29.117s
P: Manson, 1m06.110s
FL: Manson, 1m05.895s
Timaru race 2 (10 laps)
1 Manson 11m23.063s
2 Kirwan +0.908s
3 Bryant +4.441s
4 Eskandari-Marandi +4.887s
5 Fletcher +5.147s
6 Basso +7.008s
7 Petch +7.171s
8 Owens +7.242s
9 McCormack +11.173s
10 Begg +11.275s
FL: Basso, 1m06.158s
Timaru race 3 (12 laps)
1 Kirwan 16m12.118s
2 Manson +0.128s
3 Basso +0.510s
4 Owens +1.844s
5 Fletcher +2.249s
6 Bryant +3.039s
7 Musico +3.123s
8 Eskandari-Marandi +3.352s
9 Begg +3.655s
10 Beck +4.189s
FL: Musico, 1m06.023s
Timaru race 4 (12 laps)
1 Manson 13m25.653s
2 Kirwan +0.865s
3 Musico +1.723s
4 Eskandari-Marandi +1.987s
5 Basso +1.987s
6 Petch +6.016s
7 Owens +9.439s
8 McCormack +11.832s
9 Begg +14.165s
10 Fletcher +14.322s
FL: Kirwan, 1m05.936s
Championship standings
1 Manson 456 2 Eskandari-Marandi 400 3 Kirwan 390 4 Owens 358 5 Petch 331 6 Basso 323 7 Begg 319 8 Fletcher 308 9 Beck 246 10 Musco 198