Tom Sargent has increased his advantage in the 2021 Australian Formula Ford Championship with a hard-fought overall victory in the second round at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway on the weekend.

The Young driver took his second-consecutive pole position, after an intense 10-minute qualifying session which was interrupted by a red-flag stoppage.

“There were some delays to the race program due to some fog at Wakefield Park in the morning, which meant our qualifying session was shortened to 10 minutes,” Sargent explained.

“It was very nerve-wracking when the red flag came out, but fortunately I was able to do one flying lap at the end which was good enough for pole.”

Sargent jumped to an early lead in race one, managing the gap back to his main rivals to secure his fourth successive victory of the season.

“I got a pretty good lead, but I was slowed down by some lapped traffic towards the end, which allowed the others to catch up,” Sargent said.

After leading most of race two, a controversial collision relegated Sargent to second place in the very last corner on the final lap.

“I had a race-long battle with Cody (Burcher); we touched wheels in the last corner and he was able to get through,” Sargent said.

Sargent fought back to the lead in the third and final race of the weekend, but a nasty incident involving one of Sargent’s rivals, Valentino Astuti, caused the race to be abandoned.

“I was pulling away to a really good lead, but then the Safety Car came out,” Sargent said.

“When the race restarted, I was pulling away again, but then there was a big crash and the race was stopped.

“The positive is it’s good to see everyone walk away from the crash; it was a very nasty incident for Valentino and I’m thankful he was OK.”

Fortunately, Sargent’s points in the opening two races were enough for him to seal overall honours for the weekend.

“It’s a bit frustrating the final race didn’t count, but I’m stoked with the overall result,” Sargent said.

“We didn’t expect Wakefield Park to be one of our stronger rounds, so to some away with the overall round win and extend my championship lead is a great outcome.”

The next round of the Australian Formula Ford Championship is at Winton, 11-13 June.