24-car field to seize The Bend

Four years after our National Formula Ford round at Mallala Motorsport Park in 2014, next week the Australian Formula Ford Championship is returning to South Australia. A field of 24 Duratec-powered cars will be competing at The Bend Motorsport Park to support the inaugural Supercars event at Australia's newest facility. The first half of our 2018 campaign has given us three different round winners, with Hunter McElrea (two round wins), Hamish Ribarits and Zac Soutar taking honours this year. Soutar was also the first privateer to win a National round after Cameron Hill's supremacy in the 2016 Australian Formula Ford Series. McElrea is currently leading the championship, 29 points clear of Sonic Motor Racing Services team-mate Ribarits. Zac Soutar's brilliant performance at Sandown graduated him third in the championship standings, only 48 points adrift of Ribarits. Some of our competitors have already sized up the new circuit during round two of the South Australian Formula Ford Championship in June. CHE driver Lachlan Mineeff was one of them and impressed everybody when he set the lap record for the International Circuit at 1.58.562. We caught up with the 15-year-old from Bowral to get his impressions on the new circuit in South Australia. "It (The Bend Motorsport Park) is a great facility and it is a great opportunity for both me and my sponsors supporting the Supercars." said Mineef, who then continued: "It is a highly technical circuit and is a great track for Formula Ford, there is a long straight and multiple high speed corners and also a few low speed corners which will create close racing. I think it will be one of if not the best circuit on the calendar." During the race meeting at The Bend Motorsport Park, all of our sessions will be televised live on Foxtel Channel 506 as part of the Supercars TV coverage. Weekend schedule Friday, 24th August Free Practice 1 - 8:00am Free Practice 2 - 11:45am Qualifying - 1:50pm Saturday, 25th August Race 1 - 10:00am Sunday, 26th August Race 2 - 11:30am Race 3 - 4:30pm Formula Ford entry list #2 Hunter McElrea - Sonic Motor Racing Services #3 Courtney Prince - Sonic Motor Racing Services #4 Angelo Mouzouris - Sonic Motor Racing Services #5 Hamish Ribarits - Sonic Motor Racing Services #6 Paul Zsidy - Borland Racing Developments #10 Zac Soutar #12 Bart Horsten - Fastlane Racing #14 Lachlan Mineeff - CHE Racing Team #16 Thomas Smith - G Force Mygale #20 Gavin Dumas - G Force Mygale #27 Paul Di Biase #28 John Blanchard #29 Nathan Herne - BF Racing #47 Thomas Sargent - CHE Racing Team #55 Samuel Dicker - Fastlane Racing/Tandersport #60 Cody Donald #66 Benjamin D'Alia - Borland Racing Developments #73 Cameron Shields - BF Racing #76 Andy Simpson #88 Harrison Goodman - BF Racing

#91 Christopher Slusarski #97 Liam McLellan - Synergy Motorsport #98 Conor Nicholson #99 Matt Roesler

2018 Australian Formula Ford Championship pointscore (top 10) Hunter McElrea - 208 pts Hamish Ribarits - 179 pts Zac Soutar - 131 pts Angelo Mouzouris - 112 pts Nathan Herne - 111 pts Liam McLellan - 105 pts Lachlan Mineeff - 96 pts Bart Horsten - 93 pts Cameron Shields - 84 pts Courtney Prince - 57 pts