Tom Hawkins springs a surprise to top FFord Festival heat two qualifying

Photo: Ida Wood

TM Racing’s Tom Hawkins drove his Swift SC95 to pole in a wet qualifying session for heat two at the Formula Ford Festival.

Sema Racing’s Alex Ames was first out of the pits to face the tricky conditions, and also the first to make a major error as he went off at Surtees.

Rain was falling down in abundance, and Team Dolan’s Chris Middlehurst was briefly fastest from the first flying laps before Pirate M-Sports’ two-time Festival winner Joey Foster and Ammonite Motorsport’s Hugh Esterson beat him.

Middlehurst did not respond, instead spinning at Paddock Hill Bend but without causing any disruption. At this point Hawkins was fourth, ahead of PA Motorsport’s Ben Powney, Swift Cooper’s Luke Cooper and Dolan’s United FFord champion Morgan Quinn.

Hawkins went fastest with eight minutes to go, setting a 1m02.641s to lead Cooper by a tiny 0.017 seconds. Powney improved to third, ahead of Esterson and Foster.

Oldfield Motorsport’s Ben Cochran bettered Powney half a minute later, then Esterson went to the top with a 1m02.311s lap. He was only in first place for a few seconds, as Middlehurst pipped him by 0.031s.

Hawkins returned to the top with an astonishing time, setting a 1m00.719s that put him on provisional pole by 1.453s. Cochran went second fastest, then was beaten by Foster and Middlehurst were both were still over a second slower than Hawkins.

Esterson reduced Hawkins’ advantage to 0.898s with five minutes left of qualifying, and a minute later Middlehurst demoted Foster to fourth by getting within 0.93s of the pole pace.

As the track dried slightly, the slipstream became more useful and by running together Quinn and Cooper jumped to second and third but were both still way off Hawkins.

Foster and Middlehurst tried doing the same, but in a four-wide move down the pit straight came incredibly close to making contact, and with two minutes remaining Quinn improved again to be 0.442s off the benchmark pace.

Esterson was half a second off Hawkins in third, then Cooper and Middlehurst squeezed into second and third with seconds to spare. Hawkins, despite going several laps without improving, was still able to clinch pole by 0.137s, with only six drivers within a second of him.

Ammonite’s debuting Anthony Amato starred by being only half a second off pole in fifth, with two of the victory favourites Middlehurst and Foster directly ahead and behind him on the grid.

Heat 2 qualifying results