Christchurch’s Michael Collins has made a successful return to the South Island Formula 1600 Championships taking three wins from three races over the weekend at the Mike Pero Motorsport Park at Ruapuna, Christchurch. While the opening round of the 2016/17 series was expected to see the continuation of last season’s rivalry between Southland drivers Ethan Anderson and Jordan Michels, the late entry of Collins has changed and raised the level of competition for this summer of racing.
“We’re pretty happy with the weekend,” commented Collins. “The car has been well prepared, we’ve had a good race setup on the car and while qualifying could have been better we got some great results from the racing.”
After taking a year off, Collins only recently decided to make a return to racing. “It’s been a last minute decision. The car was in pieces sitting in the workshop and it was only a couple of weeks ago that we decided to make it happen. Friday practice was the first time out for the car and it went well all weekend.”
While Anderson set the fastest lap of the weekend and clearly had the pace to keep up with Collins, he had to settle for second in all three races, as did Michels who was third and Royce Bayer fourth.
“The car was great,” said Anderson. “I’m thrilled to have set the fastest lap for the round which confirms we have the pace to compete with Michael (Collins). It’s now a matter of getting past him or keeping him behind us when we head to the next round.”
It was 14-year-old rookie driver Liam Lawson from Pukekohe who set the fastest lap in qualifying on Saturday morning but an engine issue while leading in the opening stage of race one saw an early retirement and an end to the team’s weekend.
A large field of 22 cars were competed in three different Classes. Collins who leads the overall Championship also heads up Class 2. Anderson leads Class 1 while Joseph Oliver was the first Class 3 car home in each of the races.
The series now heads to Timaru International Raceway for the second round on Saturday 12 November. The event also doubles as the opening round of the five round New Zealand Formula 1600 Championship.
OVERALL Points (Top 10)
1 Michael Collins 120
2 Ethan Anderson 105
3 Jordan Michels 93
4 Royce Bayer 84
5 Grant Campbell 76
6 Dyson Freeman 68
7 Trevor Stiles 68
8 Steve Heffernan 60
9 Joseph Oliver 54
10 Anna Collins 47
Class 1 (Top 3)
1 Ethan Anderson 120
2 Jordan Michels 105
3 Grant Campbell 93
Class 2 (Top 3)
1 Michael Collins 120
2 Royce Bayer 105
3 Dyson Freeman 93
Class 3 (Top 3)
1 Joseph Oliver 120
2 Graham Dickie 105
3 Roger Mckenzie 93
Qualifying Results
1 30 Liam Lawson 01:03.733
2 23 Jordan Michels 01:04.383
3 70 Ethan Anderson 01:04.567
4 94 Michael Collins 01:04.615
5 90 Royce Bayer 01:04.769
6 92 Derek Wilson 01:05.729
7 26 Dyson Freeman 01:06.188
8 8 Stephen Heffernan 01:06..434
9 46 Grant Campbell 01:06.443
10 91 Trevor Stiles 01:06.479
11 10 David Kircher 01:06.519
12 96 Anna Collins 01:06.855
13 11 Dave Arrowsmith 01:07.801
14 14 Joseph Oliver 01:07.956
15 191 Graham Dickie 01:07.995
16 75 Jack Noble-Adams 01:09.240
17 9 Tony Fitzpatrick 01:09.508
18 44 James Dicey 01:09.827
19 72 Roger McKenzie 01:11.644
20 27 Dave McKenzie 01:12.383
21 33 Philip Butcher 01:13.755
22 52 Robin Williams 01:14.376
Race 1 (10 laps)
1 Michael Collins
2 Ethan Anderson
3 Jordan Michels
4 Royce Bayer
5 Grant Campbell
6 Trevor Stiles
7 Stephen Heffernan
8 Dyson Freeman
9 Joseph Oliver
10 Jack Noble-Adams
11 James Dicey
12 Graham Dickie
13 Tony Fitzpatrick
14 Roger McKenzie
15 Anna Collins
16 Philip Butcher
17 Dave McKenzie
18 Robin Williams
dnf Liam Lawson
dnf David Kircher
Race 2 (10 laps)
1 Michael Collins
2 Ethan Anderson
3 Jordan Michels
4 Royce Bayer
5 Grant Campbell
6 Trevor Stiles
7 Dyson Freeman
8 Joseph Oliver
9 Anna Collins
10 Stephen Heffernan
11 Graham Dickie
12 Tony Fitzpatrick
13 James Dicey
14 Philip Butcher
15 Roger McKenzie
16 Dave McKenzie
17 Robin Williams
dnf Jack Noble-Adams
dnf David Kircher
dns Derek Wilson
dns Dave Arrowsmith
Race 3 (12 laps)
1 Michael Collins
2 Ethan Anderson
3 Jordan Michels
4 Royce Bayer
5 Dyson Freeman
6 Grant Campbell
7 Stephen Heffernan
8 Trevor Stiles
9 Anna Collins
10 Joseph Oliver
11 Graham Dickie
12 James Dicey
13 Tony Fitzpatrick
14 Philip Butcher
15 Roger McKenzie
16 Robin Williams
17 Dave McKenzie
2016/17 South Island Formula 1600 Championship Calendar
Rnd 1: October 29-30 2016, Mike Pero Motorsport Park, Ruapuna, Christchurch
Rnd 2: November 12 2016, Timaru International Raceway, Timaru (Long track); (also Rd 1 NZ Formula Ford Championship)
Rnd 3: December 3-4 2016, Teretonga Park Raceway, Invercargill
Rnd 4: January 12-15 2017, Mike Pero Motorsport Park, Ruapuna (also Rd 2 NZ Formula Ford Championship)
Rnd 5: January 19-22 2017, Teretonga Park Raceway, Invercargill; (also Rd 3 NZ Formula Ford Championship)
Rnd 6: March 25 2017, Timaru International Raceway, Timaru (Long track)
