PRESS RELEASE – Rowe overcomes crash to finish third for the round

 

AGI Sport/ SCT Logistics driver Nick Rowe has overcome finding the wall at Phillip Islands Lukey Heights to deliver a third place in the second round of the CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship.

Rowe showed plenty of pace during the weekend managing to qualify pole for two of the three races. The young Western Australian was neck-and-neck with fellow statesman Jordan Love and Queenslander Will Brown. There was less than one tenth between the three drivers for most of the weekend.

 

However Rowe wasn’t happy with a third place vowing to catch his young rivals at the next round.

‘You always want to be first in the Championship but we will work hard and we’ll get there’, he said.

“Race 3 was really interesting, we got the jump off the start and we led the first four or five laps, just didn’t quite have the traction out of turn 4 but that’s alright we worked hard all weekend and after Race 2 to still finish on the podium is good’, Nick continued.

The podium finish was a great result considering his off in Race 2 knocked him out of the race completely.

“We had good pace and we were slowly catching Will at the start and Lovey had good pace so it was going to be a pretty good battle there towards the end and then I dunno, I just went into the Lukey then and just pitched it and lost the rear,” Nick said.

Team mate Jack Smith put in some steady laps throughout the weekend and he got his wish for a clean Race 3 after Saturday’s safety cars delivered little in the way of driving. The Gold Coast teenager finished sixth in the final race.

“Race 3 wasn’t too eventful for me, wasn’t much happening around me but I had fun doing some good laps towards the end,” Jack said.

“I’ve definitely got to push a lot earlier in the race, I’m doing quicker times towards the end but need to work a bit harder at the start, that’s definitely what I’ve taken away from this weekend.”

The highlight for the rookie driver came in Race 1 despite a five second penalty. There was little action up the front however Jack had a battle on his hands for most of the race with newcomer Simon Fallon breathing down his neck.

“I had a really good battle actually with Simon, he was right behind me the whole entire race and I was defending pretty hard. He ended up getting me on the last lap unfortunately but that’s racing,” Jack said.

 

Both boys will use the big break between the next round at Sydney Motorsport Park in July to hone their skills.

Jack Smith is looking forward to the Sydney track having driven there in the past.

“I’m pretty keen for SMP, I’ve done a couple of test days there and we will do couple more before the round so I’m pretty excited for that one,” Jack said.

Rowe is already looking forward to getting back in the seat again and closing the gap to Brown and Love.

 

“We will fight back at Sydney Motorsport Park in a few months time and I hope to close that Championship lead up and get back into the race,” Rowe said.

There’s a fair break between the rounds too with the CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship returning to Sydney Motorsport Park July 1-3.