Kobi Williams doubles up at Winton
A superb drive by Kobi Williams has delivered his second victory of the day in the opening round of the Formula Ford Stars & Renegades Series at Winton.
Williams outlasted challenges from Joe Fawcett and Jamie Rowe to take his second win on Saturday in the 30-minute Feature Race.
Although Williams and Fawcett renewed their hostilities, Lachlan Evennett made the best jump, but was boxed in by the lead pair in third until he went off the road at Turn 5 to drop multiple positions.
It didn’t take Fawcett long to assume the lead when he dove down the inside at Turn 1 on lap 2 to hold a slight advantage.
It was a titanic struggle for much of the race between the pair as third was hard fought in favour of Rowe at this time after an inside pass on Evennett at Turn 1, sending the latter wide and onto the grass. This allowed Lowing to move up to fourth as well.
The safety car was called after a stuck throttle caused Tabitha Ambrose to spear off at Turn 9, but she will return tomorrow.
Teammate Brad James pitted not long after in relation to damage picked up from an opening lap incident at Turn 6 where Ethan Fitzgerald’s Spectrum contacted wheels and was sent into the air. James returned to the circuit multiple laps down.
Just as the battle for the lead was intense at the restart, Rowe was just holding Lowing at bay and this resulted in the pair in front to skip away to a 1s margin.
Evennett’s fall down the field continued after Hunter Salvatore moved into the top five, while Fraser Hie mysteriously dropped out after a fuel pressure problem forced him to pull off the track exiting Turn 10.
However, the race changed with five minutes to go in the Feature Race when Fawcett ran wide at Turn 11 and re-joined in fourth. After placing the pressure on Fawcett with limited success up to this point, Williams assumed the lead.
Not out of the woods yet due to an engine problem, Williams had to fend off the advances of Rowe in the closing stages as Lowing’s challenge faded to remain third.
In the end, the margin between Williams and Rowe was 0.395s from Lowing, Fawcett, with Salvatore completing the top five.
Evennett was sixth ahead of a solid performance from Giuseppe Imbrogno and a great comeback from Kaleb Benak as Jack Johnson was the last runner on the lead lap in ninth from Fitzgerald.
Day 3 of action from Winton begins with Qualifying at 9:45am AEDT on the livestream followed by Heat 2 at 1:45pm, with the final Feature Race of the inaugural round at 3:30pm live on SBS On-demand, Fox Sports and Kayo.
