Forza3 Racing driver Simon Sceats has continued his winning form from Round Two of the 2009/10 Production Racing Series by winning the third round at Teretonga Park, Invercargill over the weekend after taking two race wins.
For the second event in succession, the Forza3 Racing Team were the class of the New Zealand Production Racing field and revelled in a weekend of blue skies and warm temperatures at 'The World's Southernmost Race Place'.
Sceats made the most of the track time available in Thursday free practice, clocking up a number of laps and refining the setup of the Forza3 Subaru Impreza WRX leading into the three day event.
In a championship dominated in numbers by Mitsubishi with their Evolution 9 and 10 model cars, Sceats rose to the occasion by qualifying in second place on Saturday morning and placing himself in a strong position to challenge for victory in the opening race.
Sceats followed championship leader Grant Aitken in his Mitsubishi Evo 9 in the early laps, and found his strong point on the Teretonga circuit to be around the famous, high speed turn one sweeper.
Sceats attempted a daring outside manoeuvre on Aitken on consecutive laps, completing the pass on the second and going on to win the first race by a comfortable margin.
Simon Sceats
Simon Sceats leading Grant Aitken at Teretonga
Despite the daring nature of the pass, Sceats was matter of fact about why it was pulled off.
"Turn one seems to be the only place I can pass around this track!" he mused after the race.
Starting from pole position for the second race, Sceats won the run to the first corner in race two and withheld the pressure from Aitken for the duration of the ten lap race to again take the chequered flag in first place.
The reverse grid final race provided the biggest challenge of the weekend for Sceats, when he was forced into a spin at the mid-way point and spent the remainder of the race making up lost ground on eventual race winner Scott McKelvie.
Sceats was challenging for the race lead with Grant Aitken in the early laps and on lap six attempted the outside pass around turn one just as he had done in the opening race.
Contact was made between the two cars forcing Sceats into a half-spin, however further contact from Aitken immediately after pushed the Forza3 Subaru Impreza WRX into the wrong direction and off the track.
Aitken was handed a drive through penalty while Sceats rejoined the circuit and chased down McKelvie for the rest of the race, finishing in second just two seconds shy of the race winner.
With his second round win in succession, Sceats has further closed the points gap in the 2009/10 Production Racing Series to just thirty with half the championship still remaining.
Michael Modgill
Leading the field into the Turn Seven 'elbow'
“I made a small error at the start of race two and allowed Aitken through at turn one,” Sceats commented.
“This weekend was another example of the teamwork and effort that is being put in by the Forza3 Racing Team,” Sceats said.
“There were some things that were out of our control of course, but we have proved again that we are a worthy contender for the championship and if we continue this good run of form at Timaru then I believe we can head back to the North Island with the upper hand in the points.”
Sceats and the team are now en route for Levels Raceway in Timaru, for the second round in succession this coming weekend on January 23 and 24.
