10/4/06 | Fast F4000 pack out to get Pingel

2006 Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship

PREVIEW: Round 2 – Wakefield Park, New South Wales

Less than five months since the Formula 4000 fray last ventured to Wakefield Park for the final round of the 2005 season last November, Australia’s fastest racing cars are set to re-embark on the bumpy 2.20km Goulburn layout for Round 2 of the 2006 Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship on April 22-23.

While the idyllic plains of the Goulburn area surrounding Wakefield Park are renowned for their lush countryside and plentiful holiday retreats and B&Bs, there will be no rest for the F4000 drivers come a fortnight’s time as they and their winged monsters are faced with a bone-rattling ride of the tight and challenging Wakefield Park circuit, known for its abrasive and unforgiving surface and collection of winding sweeps and tight bends, which often make for close and hotly-contested racing as well as rigorous work for the drivers.

After first playing host to F4000 in 2003, this weekend’s round is the third Formula 4000 event to take place at Wakefield Park and is expected to be closely fought out following a competitive opening round at Melbourne’s Calder Park Raceway in March.

Heading into the round as championship leader is Derek Pingel (#8 Australian Lifestyle Management Group Reynard 95D) who clean swept proceedings at Calder following pole position and two race wins. Pingel leads the championship after the first round on 40 points from a brace of championship challengers headed by Mark West (27 points) and Sam Dale (22 points) who will both be looking to collect their first F4000 victories very soon after encouraging performances at Calder.

However it is anticipated that Pingel’s main opposition will come from Ty Hanger (#48 Pluim Interiors/Powrgard Mouthguards Reynard 95D) who is eager to take his first F4000 championship title after finishing runner-up in the last two seasons. Hanger’s quest for the 2006 title started inauspiciously at Calder following a disqualification in qualifying and a spectacular engine failure in the early stages of the Feature race which meant that the Gosford driver came away from the meeting only 5^th overall in the standings on 15 points, some 25 points adrift of Pingel after one round.

On the contrary, Mark West and Sam Dale both left the Melbourne circuit with heads held high after registering their best ever F4000 finishes thus far, while for West’s Just Magazines-backed team, the result brought with it a much needed boost of morale after two difficult seasons in the category.

Dale meanwhile enters the upcoming round buoyant following a successful pre-season test at the Goulburn circuit in January alongside Australian international Barton Mawer, who was able to use his vast open wheel experience to guide Dale and Mumbo Racing team-mate Matthew Fox to the finer points of adapting to the ‘wings and slicks’ nature of F4000, an environment foreign to Dale prior to 2005 following a career to date in touring cars.

Marking the 18^th year of Formula 4000 racing in Australia, the 2006 Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship is an 8-race, 16-round competition with the champion at the end of the year to be awarded a test drive with the Tasman Motorsport V8 Supercar team as a continuation of Formula 4000’s commitment to developing the talents of young Australasian drivers embarking on careers in domestic and international motor sport.

Formula 4000 alumni includes current Williams Formula 1 driver Mark Webber, Team Australia Champ Car driver Will Power, former IRL IndyCar champion Scott Dixon and A1 Grand Prix stars Matt Halliday and Jonny Reid.