Noah Sands has achieved a podium result in just his second round of national motorsport competition, finishing third overall in round two of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway on the weekend.

The Leeton driver qualified his CHE Racing Formula Ford in second position, before falling to fourth in race one.

Some well-judged setup adjustments improved the performance of Sands’ car for race two and he set the fastest lap on his way to third place.

In race three, Sands moved up to second position and was on target to finish the weekend strongly, but a major incident involving another competitor saw the race stopped and ultimately abandoned, with no official results recorded.

“It’s my rookie year in the national championship, so it feels really good to be on the podium in only my second round,” Sands said.

“Wakefield Park has been a happy hunting ground for me so far – I won the state Formula Ford round here at the end of last year, and now I’ve scored my first national podium, so it’s definitely a track I enjoy.

“In qualifying, our speed was strong and I was able to qualify on the front row, but our setup wasn’t quite there in race one – we tried a different direction and it didn’t work out for us.

“However, the CHE Racing Team did a great job of tweaking it for the second race and it was much improved – we found our feet and it paid off.

“In the second race, I set the fastest lap and in the third race, I was running in second and gaining some time on my team-mate Tom (Sargent) before the red flag came out.”

Sands’ podium result has also elevated him to third in the championship ahead of the next round at Winton Raceway on 11-13 June.

“I’m feeling confident heading to Winton – I’ve done a fair few laps there in testing, so it should be good,” Sands concluded.