Australian and Victorian Formula Ford Championship leader Tom Sargent has relocated to Victoria ahead of his next event at Sandown Raceway, 23-25 July.
The worsening COVID-19 situation in NSW prompted the Canberra-based CHE Racing driver to make the border dash last Sunday, just before Victoria announced a hard border closure to NSW.
Since then, Melbourne has been plunged into lockdown but Sargent is hopeful it will be lifted before the race meeting is scheduled to commence.
“Currently the lockdown is supposed to end on Tuesday, so hopefully that happens and we can go racing as we’ve planned,” Sargent said.
“Originally, it was supposed to be a national round, but because of the border closure, it’s now just a Victorian state round. Regardless, we’re leading the Victorian championship as well, so it’s really important for us to be able to race. That’s why I made the decision to leave the ACT when I did; if I hadn’t been able to cross the border, I wouldn’t have been able to race and it would have really hurt my championship campaign.”
While the relocation has prevented Sargent from visiting his NSW-based CHE Racing workshop, it has opened the door to another opportunity for Sargent to gain some valuable experience within the motorsport industry, working with one of the most respected names in Australian open-wheel race car construction.
“While I’m in Melbourne, I’m staying with Glenn Higgins, who was the mechanic on my Formula Ford in 2019,” Sargent explained.
“Glenn works full-time for Borland Racing Developments, which manufactures the Spectrum Formula Ford chassis and fabricates a lot of bespoke components for various types of race cars.
“Mike Borland has given me the opportunity to help out in the BRD workshop while I’m here. It has been really interesting – a lot of fun and very good experience seeing what goes into making the various parts that are used in Formula Fords and other types of cars.
“I’m very thankful Mike has given me the opportunity – it’s really enriching my overall knowledge of motorsport and I’m learning things that will be beneficial for my skill-set in the industry.”
Sargent will be back behind the wheel of his CHE Formula Ford at Sandown on 23-25 July.
