Positive signs for CHE Racing Team after tough Sandown round

The CHE Racing Team displayed frontrunning pace in Round 5 of the Australian Formula Ford Series at Sandown, though it proved a tough weekend as luck with safety car involvements and red flags went against the team.

Lachlan Strickland again highlighted his pace as Imogen Radburn displayed impressive race craft across the three races at the historic venue.

Strickland was hampered during qualifying after setting one representative time during the heavily interrupted session due to three red flags. Starting 16th, Strickland made steady progress to be placed sixth before the final restart, but a hit from behind ensured he retired from the opening race

Race 2 rewarded Strickland for staying out of trouble as he climbed from the back to 13th in an action-packed race.

A prolonged safety car period in the final race didn’t provide enough time for Strickland to recover after he avoided an opening lap incident as he rounded the weekend in 16th.

Another to be caught out by the various red flags during qualifying was Radburn, but she took further strides by setting her personal best time around Sandown. However, Radburn was involved in contact following a safety car restart and was forced into the fence through no fault of her own.

Radburn made a great start to Race 2 to be 13th from outside the top 20, making two further positions until a safety car bunched up the field.

In the final race of the weekend, Radburn fell to 22nd after getting a little too aggressive with the Sandown kerbs.

Phillip Island awaits for CHE Racing Team’s Australian Formula Ford Series contenders on September 22-24.

QUOTES
Lachlan Strickland
#47 Rightway Insurance Services/CHE Racing Team

“It was definitely a character building weekend that’s for sure, the highs and lows of motorsport were on display,” revealed Strickland.

“We had a rough Saturday, but the team tuned the car up fantastically with the whole rear end needing to be reassembled.

“Race 2 was definitely a hard one, the grip was lacklustre to say the least and we just battled through the contest to try to find some momentum, but we didn’t get it.

“I didn’t get the start I wanted in the final race and I nearly was caught in a lap 1 incident, so it was hard to regain momentum from there.

“Overall, we learnt a lot this weekend and I've got pace onboard, it’s probably the quickest all year just not much to show for it.”

Imogen Radburn
#29 Radburn Racing Team/CHE Racing Team

“I didn’t have the best qualifying due to three red flags being brought out and ending the session early,” Radburn reflected.

“Race 1 I ended in the wall and I didn't want to do that again, but the crew did an amazing job to fix my car for Sunday’s two contests.

“I made a great jump in Race 2 to climb 10 positions at the start and climbed 11 places overall.

“In the final event of the weekend I hit kerbs at two corners on the last lap losing positions. However, we’ll fight back at Phillip Island for the next round.”