It was the perfect result for Hamilton school boy Taylor Cockerton at the fourth round of the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship held at Taupo Motorsport Park. Fastest qualifier and three wins gave the 17 year old St Paul’s Collegiate student maximum points in his chase for the title with two rounds remaining.
Heading into the weekend Cockerton was in fifth place, 145 points behind championship leader Caleb Cross from Christchurch. He has now emerged in third place overall, just 107 points behind.
The national series got underway in Timaru in early November 2014 with two further rounds in the South Island where initially Cockerton had struggled to gain points. However he is now on a run of seven straight wins with the remainder of the series (six races) at more familiar tracks in the North Island.
“The pressure is always there to maximise the points for the weekend,” commented Cockerton. “But it was a matter of being consistent. The aim was always to get pole position and then win races from there.”
The round consisted of practice and qualifying on Saturday, with three races on the Sunday. In all three, Cockerton was able to take the lead creating a gap to the pursuing pack and then controlling the race until the chequered flag.
“I was really happy with the first win. I got a good clean start and was able to pull away and then run my own race.”
While the second race was similar to the first, Whanganui’s Aaron Marr was able to put more pressure on Cockerton in the final 12 lapper.
“Aaron (Marr) was able to initially keep with me but we had a great car setup today and we were able to pull away, and eventually take the win. Consistency was the key and the team gave me a great car for this track.”
Cross continues to lead the championship with Te Puke’s Michael Scott second. Cross continues to finish on the podium gathering valuable points and has been able to protect his lead, albeit now reduced by a third.
There will be little time to celebrate the win with the penultimate round of the championship this coming weekend at the New Zealand Grand Prix weekend at Manfeild Park, Feilding. The category will one of the support classes at the final 2015 Toyota Racing Series round.
“I’m pretty confident heading to Manfeild,” commented Cockerton. “ I know the track well as I have raced a lot of laps on the track in a Formula First car.”
“The Grand Prix round is a big one for the class with a lot of spectators there. But I’m not new to the pressure. Like this weekend it is just a matter keeping it consistent.”
