Smith’s FFord Festival testing absence gamble pays off as he takes pole

Photo: Ida Wood

Rory Smith missed the final day of pre-event testing for the Formula Ford Festival due to work commitments, but his prior set-up work ended up earning him pole comfortably.

Mann Motorsport’s Charlie Mann led Smiths Precision driver Darwin Smith initially, albeit by only 0.034 seconds, but on his second flying lap 2023 Festival winner Rory Smith got into his stride and set a 50.721s that put him 0.572s clear of anyone else.

Oldfield Motorsport’s Connor Willis was second at that point, with Wayne Poole Racing’s Alex Walker the only driver within a second of provisional pole.

Smith’s advantage was reduced slightly to 0.476s by TM Racing’s Felix Fisher, then on his next lap Smith improved to 50.548s but Willis got within 0.087s of him while Mann and Darwin Smith set identical laptimes in third and fourth.

The provisional poleman failed to improve on his next effort, but Willis did and slashed the gap further to 0.046s. Walker got back into third, 0.234s behind and 0.005s ahead of Mann.

Smith responded to the pressure by lowering the pace to 50.15s on his fifth flying lap. Willis again made a minute gain, leaving him 0.383s behind but still in second ahead of fellow improvers Walker, Mann, Smith and Ammonite Motorsport’s Brindley Kinch.

None of them set personal bests on the laps after that, but with two-and-a-half minutes to go Mann moved up to third with a 50.627s.

Smith reinforced his advantage at the top in the final minutes, posting a 49.963s on his eighth flying lap to lead Walker by 0.521s. Walker had even more pace to find, and he reduced Smith’s pole-winning margin to 0.449s.

Mann returned to third with 64s left on the clock, and remained there to the end.

Fisher took fifth from Darwin Smith just before the chequered flag, as nobody in the top seven improved with their final efforts.

Heat 3 qualifying results