Teenage racer Liam Lawson survived a tough weekend of racing in the Australian Formula 4 championship at Queensland Raceway but has returned home still holding down second-place in the series.
Lawson was handicapped in the final race after avoiding a collision in front of him and dropping to the back of the field. However he stormed back to finish the race in a points-collecting sixth place.
A similar recovery drive in race two from the back of the grid to fourth was another demonstration of Lawson’s driving skill, making good passes under brakes on a circuit known to be notoriously hard to pass on.
“I struggled for pace in turns one and two during the two races on Saturday, but the changes we made to the car for the last race on Sunday helped,” said a disappointed Lawson, who saw his early championship lead slip further behind West Australian, Nick Rowe.
“We entered the weekend one-point behind [in the championship] but Nick had a great run and has pulled away on us,” said Lawson, who retains second place, tied on points with his BRM teammate, Cameron Sheilds.
The 15-year-old from Pukekohe is having his debut season driving a ‘wings and slicks’ Formula 4 car and initially led the series through the opening rounds before the experienced Rowe was able to capitalise on Lawson’s misfortune and move to the top of the points table.
Driving the RetroCar.co.nz sponsored F4, the Queensland round was the first this season at which Lawson has not finished a race on the podium.
“A few incidents didn’t go my way so it was about recovering as much as possible and still bagging some [championship] points,” said Lawson.
The CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship resumes in three weeks time at Sydney Motorsport Park, again as support to the V8 Supercar.
The final round will be held on the streets of the Gold Coast in October.
Proudly supporting Lawson’s Formula 4 campaign is RetroCar.co.nz, along with the Giltrap Group, NZ Childcare Finance, BG World Wheels, Archibalds, Maugers, TACCOC, Cyrus International Cargo, Men at Work and Showerdome.
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