Photo: Geoff Ridder Photography
Blake Knowles leads the New Zealand Formula Ford standings after round two at Ruapuna.
His title rival Sebastian Manson was the pacesetter in practice, topping all three sessions. He remained on top in qualifying, with Caleb Byers his closest rival and Knowles going third fastest.
In race one Manson was also the on-the-road winner, but he and Byers got five-second penalties for moving in their grid spots before the lights went out, and so victory went to Knowles.
Initially Byers kept with Manson, leaving Knowles behind and a multi-car battle for fourth led by William Neale.
By lap four there was a fight for second, and Knowles got by. He lacked the pace to chase down Manson, but it did not matter as on lap eight the safety car appeared and then red flags waved due to Cameron Tanner and Jacob Cunniffe having a big crash that ripped part of the rear off the latter’s car.
Manson and Byers dropped to fourth and fifth with their penalties, with Knowles victorious ahead of Neale and Izaak Fletcher.
Dylan Grant got ahead of Neale and Fletcher in their fight for fourth, with Zach Blincoe briefly getting ahead of Fletcher too, but a lap six lock-up by Grant enabled Neale to get back past. When Grant attempted to go around the outside at turn on the next lap he instead lost out further, getting passed by Fletcher and Mason Potter (another driver with a jump start penalty) before hurtling off the track and dropping behind Dylan Petch too.
Manson and Knowles shared the race two front row, with Byers and Petch behind. Having been scheduled to run 10 laps, this one only lasted seven but was super tight. Manson almost lost the lead off the line with a slow start, and then he got his tyres too hot too quickly.
That meant Knowles was able to keep pressure on him, and a mistake by Manson not only meant a change of leader but also brought Byers into play. Manson was able to get down the inside of Knowles late on to reclaim the lead, and won by just 0.084s with Byers 0.282s behind. The result put the top two level on points at the top of the standings.
There was also a photo finish for fourth, which Petch lost out in as he dropped to sixth behind Neale and Potter. Simon Hunter and Michael Hey retired on lap six, prompting the race shortening.
Knowles and Manson fought each other for victory again in race three but it all went wrong when they made contact at turn one. While Knowles then had to hold off Byers to win, Manson was on the back foot and following a spin he retired. Fifth place for Neale was enough to move him past Manson into second in the standings.
Results round-up
Race 1 (8 laps)
1 Blake Knowles 19m30.501s
2 William Neale +1.711s
3 Izaak Fletcher +2.534s
4 Sebastian Manson +3.325s
5 Caleb Byers +5.963s
6 Zach Blincoe +5.990s
7 Dylan Petch +6.940s
8 Dylan Grant +9.038s
9 Toby McCormack +9.350s
10 Mason Potter +9.502s
Pole: Manson,
Fastest lap: Manson, 1m29.625s
Race 2 (7 laps)
1 Manson 10m41.540s
2 Knowles +0.084s
3 Byers +0.282s
4 Neale +3.311s
5 Potter +3.559s
6 Petch +3.658s
7 Grant +4.100s
8 Fletcher +4.218s
9 Blincoe +8.066s
10 Jake Bryant +10.754s
FL: Manson, 1m30.207s
Race 3 (12 laps)
1 Knowles 20m11.974s
2 Byers +0.293s
3 Petch +0.677s
4 Fletcher +0.976s
5 Neale +1.263s
6 Potter +1.942s
7 Blincoe +2.140s
8 Bryant +2.380s
9 McCormack +2.665s
10 Daniel Kelly +3.266s
FL: Manson, 1m29.986s
Championship standings
1 Knowles 473 2 Neale 433 3 Manson 398 4 Fletcher 360 5 Grant 321 6 Byers 315 7 Potter 313 8 Blincoe 292 9 Petch 246 10 Kelly 232