Seth Burchartz prevails in tough Yokohama Tyre AASA Australian Formula Ford Championship finale
Seth Burchartz has won an intense finale for the Yokohama Tyre AASA Australian Formula Ford Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Burchartz also won the round and secured the first win for Team Sonic in the category since 2023, which was a championship won by his mentor Matt Hillyer.
Just like in Race 1, Burchartz made the best of the rolling start to lead into the first turn followed by Hunter Salvatore.
The duo traded the lead by making audacious passes at Turn 1 on each other, with championship leader Oli Wickham having a front row seat.
Wickham’s race went sour when a move at Turn 2 on Salvatore led to contact and a spin for the title leader dropped him to the back of the field.
Lucky for Wickham, the Pace Car was called due to an incident involving Giuseppe Imbrogno and Tabitha Ambrose.
The two entered Turn 1 side-by-side, but a slight twitch by Imbrogno led to wheel-to-wheel contact with Ambrose resulting in both retiring in the grass on the outside of the corner.
Once the Pace Car left the circuit, the race was reenergised and the fight for lead was spread across the front straight three-wide.
Will Lowing charged in Race 1 and replicated this in the finale to take the lead in a slipstreaming battle between Salvatore, Burchartz, rookie Xavier Henderson and Kaleb Belak.
It was Burchartz prevailing in this battle and the race, despite Salvatore making a last ditch effort at the final corner. This led to damage and he dropped off the podium to finish seventh.
This opened the door for a couple of new faces to appear on the podium, with Henderson and Belak making their maiden appearance.
Completing the top 10 were Lowing, a recovering Jamie Rowe, Lachie Mineeff, Salvatore, Isaac Demellweek, Wickham and Sam March.
Despite his ninth place in the final race, Wickham continues to lead the standings by three-points from Burchartz and a further 29 behind is Demellweek.
The Yokohama Tyre AASA Australian Formula Ford Championship re-joins the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series at the 2 Days of Thunder on May 1-3.
