CHE Racing Team keep title challenge on-track in Sydney

VIDEO: https://www.facebook.com/CHEracingteam/videos/615445680450123

CHE Racing Team continued to take strides towards a second Australian Formula Ford Series title in three years as lead challenger Zak Lobko remained in touch with his title rivals.

Capped off with victory in the final race of the weekend, Lobko qualified in seventh as rookie Lachlan Strickland led the CHE Racing Team’s hopes starting fourth in an extremely close qualifying session as the top 10 were covered by less than a second.

Lobko didn’t waste time in climbing positions despite the opening race being run for the majority of time under safety car conditions, he still managed to finish in fifth setting up a solid run for Sunday’s events.

This came to fruition as Lobko finished third in the second encounter before progressing to victory after a tight battle with his main title protagonist.

Strickland just finished short of the podium in Race 1 in fourth before falling back to 12th in the second after contact battling for the podium. What followed in the final event of the weekend was an impressive run by Strickland to score his maiden Australian Formula Ford Series podium to complete a strong round.

Imogen Radburn continued her steady progress as she remained out of trouble and posted consistent results across the weekend.

After qualifying in 14th, Radburn remained in that position for Race 1 as she improved to 11th in the second event before finishing off the round in 12th.

The CHE Racing Team now prepares for the next round of the Australian Formula Ford Series at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania supporting the Repco Supercars Championship on May 19-21.

QUOTES

Zak Lobko
#7 CHE Racing Team

“That’s it from Sydney Motorsport Park, I managed to get a win in the end,” Lobko said.

“After qualifying we were a little further back then what we were hoping back in seventh and it turned into a recovery weekend to try to get as many points as we could. I only ended five points of first so not a big hit.

“We’ll move onto Tasmania and hopefully do a better job there.

“Thanks to Cam, my dad and everybody’s help during the weekend.”

Imogen Radburn
#29 CHE Racing Team

“It was a great weekend for me,” said Radburn.

“In qualifying I managed to set a personal best and start from 14th. We were pretty happy with that as it was just four positions out of the top 10.

“My start was pretty average in Race 1 and I climbed back up to 14th as due to a safety car there was no time to make further positions.

“I had an awesome start to the second race and climbed a few positions to finish 11th, which we were very happy about.

“Although I struggled off the start again, the final race was fun and I finished in 12th.

“It was a great round, which was nice and we’ll keep pushing in Tassie.

“I want to thank my sponsors, CHE and family for their support."

Lachlan Strickland
#47 CHE Racing Team

“It was a really awesome weekend from start to finish,” Strickland reflected.

“A lot of bumps and some moments. All in all, it was a very good finish and I drove quite well, while the team did an absolute mega job.

“In qualifying on Saturday morning I was fourth, which was mega and I only did four laps before boxing. I just waited it out, it was nerve racking that’s for sure.

“I consolidated in Race 1 to finish fourth, I was third for a while before the safety car came out and some things didn’t go my way, but I guess that’s just how it goes.

“The second race was definitely interesting. We were in third for most of the race then there was contact in a racing incident as three into two doesn’t go and I was the worst one off. It was my own fault, but the team did a fantastic job to get the car back together, not that there was much wrong.

“We started 12th in Race 3 and it was just insane. We worked our way up all the way to third and the team put a mega car together, the speed this weekend was just phenomenal.”

Cameron Hill
Team Manager, CHE Racing Team

“It’s been a pretty strong weekend here at Sydney Motorsport Park for the CHE Racing Team,” Hill summarised.

“Zak and Lachlan both had great performances. Zak grabbed the win in the last one, which is awesome to see and Lachlan made an awesome recovery from 12th on the grid to third.

“Imogen also had an awesome weekend punching out personal bests multiple times throughout qualifying and the races. She was just on the fringe of the top 10 and it’s very exciting to see what she brings for the next round.

“We’re really looking forward to taking the team down to Tasmania for Round 3, I’ll be there racing my Supercar as well, so it’ll be a pretty big weekend, but I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”