The 2023/24 New Zealand Formula Ford Championship came down to the wire in a three-race finale in front of a sell-out crowd at the ITM Taupo Super400 last weekend.
Through it all, Blake Knowles battled challenging weather and tight competition to be crowned the NAPA Auto Parts New Zealand Formula Ford Champion by just two points over 2024 New Zealand Grand Prix competitor Seb Manson. Will Neale completed the podium in third.
The 2023/24 Giltrap Group North Island Formula Ford Series was also decided across the three races, with Dylan Grant successfully defending his title ahead of Mason Potter and Blake Dowdall.
Knowles had a handy 24-point lead over Manson entering the final round at Taupo International Motorsport Park but was left with work to do, with a maximum of 227 points on offer over the weekend.
Manson put the challenge to his rival in Saturday’s opener, qualifying on pole to claim two championship points and the $1,010.10 cash prize provided by the Hampton Downs NZ Racing Academy. He then won the first race, in the wet, from Grant, with Neale in third and Knowles in fourth.
Just one point separated Knowles and Manson entering the final day of competition.
The Championship leader hit back on Sunday, winning the second race from his rival and a fast-charging Zac Blincoe, extending his advantage to just nine points ahead of the final race of the four-round championship.
The 12-lap finale provided some vintage Formula Ford racing and was arguably the race of the day in Sunday’s proceedings, with Neale prevailing in a hard-fought battle with Manson to win the Ron Frost Memorial Trophy.
Knowles trumped Grant, Blincoe, and Izaak Fletcher in another tight battle, further behind the two leaders, to take the final podium spot. Third place for Knowles was enough to seal the overall and Class 1 national title by two points over Manson. Neale was in third, followed by Potter, Grant, and Fletcher.
Fletcher finished top Rookie ahead of Toby McCormack to claim the Stephen Gillard Memorial Trophy.
Cameron Freeman was first in Class 2 ahead of Cameron Tanner and Jacob Cunniffe.
The battle within the battle for the North Island Formula Ford was just as close. Mason Potter began the weekend five points clear of Grant, while Dowdall was 35 points further back in third.
Three top-five placings for Grant, including a podium in the opener, gave him both the overall and Class 1 title, 36 points clear of Potter, who was put on the back foot with a mechanical failure in qualifying, which relegated him to the rear of the grid for all three races.
Dowdall took third, followed by Blincoe and Seb Manson.
Shane Drake won the Class 2 title, while Toby McCormack won Rookie of the Series and a 237-piece SP Custom Series Tool Kit worth $3000, provided by NAPA Auto Parts and SP Tools.
Knowles will receive a fully funded two-day Formula 4 test in the US with Kiwi Motorsport and an FT60 test compliments of the Tony Quinn Foundation, while Cameron Freeman, the winner of Class 2, has the opportunity to test an FT50 single-seater provided by Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ.
