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Australian F.Ford

 Tobia Kipper Racing 

 Round 2 Perth, Barbagallo,Western Australia

 23-25th March 2007

With Driver Kipper having been born and initially raised till the age of 4 in the sunny West, this would be the closest thing to a “home race”. Friday morning saw the Formula Ford field line up for the days sessions being Practice 1 & 2. both sessions would be used to come to grips with the tight and tricky WA circuit, with Kipper posting a respectable time in session 1 placing him 9th fastest with the front of the field being made up of seasoned Formula Ford campaigners.

“I was reasonably happy with that, we were suffering a little with oversteer, and an overall lack of grip, but that is to be expected here at this track” commented Kipper.

Saturday would be all about Qualifying, and the importance of track position here was going to make it a struggle for the team “ we made some changes overnight to settle the car down, so we will see if that was the right way to go” said Kipper. As the session started, Kipper was rolling out of pit lane mid pack with the “green” rubber ready to put his head down for that all important flying lap! The field was lead out by team mate Ash Walsh, who was out to set a blistering time early on with his new rubber. As it turned out Ash got his lap in on his first flying lap, whilst Kipper was aiming to maximize his car for lap 2 as traffic was playing a part but as Kipper was approaching turn 7, the final turn Ash had thrown it all away and exited the track into the sand trap bringing out the red flag.

“It was a case of what might have been” said Kipper “ I was on my good lap, and unfortunately it didn’t count due to the red flag situation and that cost me up to 6 tenths from what we can tell” added Kipper. With the session restarted once Ash’s beached car was retrieved, Kipper had to then dig deep on what was now slightly used rubber to post a respectable time, coming away with the 12th fastest time in official Qualifying.

Race 1 was held in warm conditions in the middle of the day, with Kipper starting from the outside grid slot in position 12, it was always going to be important to make a good start and quickly get over to the inside line to keep out of any trouble in turn 1. Having got a good start Kipper jumped up the order to 10th on the first lap, and looked to have the measure of the next group of cars infront. “ I was basically just keeping my nose clean here, as it’s very hard to pass here in Perth” commented Kipper. With John Magro aggressively blocking at every opportunity Kipper was happy to wait for a mistake from the BRM driver. By lap 9 Kipper had moved up to 8th position, and was chasing Magro and Glen Wood ahead with the margin always less than a car length. It was here that Luke Wood made the brave move to pass Kipper down the inside into turn 1, with Kipper sighting him in time to give him some racing room. “ I basically gave Wood enough room for his car down the inside into turn 1, but held the outside line thru the turn and we were wheel to wheel through turn 2 and 3, but on the approach to 4 which is the left hander up the hill he turned down on me, and I had to where to go!” quipped an unhappy Kipper after the race. Kipper then Spun to the infield recovering in 15th.

Sunday brought Race 2, and was always going to be a struggle having to start so far back, but once again Kipper made up some spots through solid driving, finishing the race in 12th, giving him a better chance at the points for the final race of the weekend.

Race 3 brought about some great racing right through the field, with Kipper trading lap times with the leading bunch, and the entire field racing within half a second of each other it was always going to be difficult to pass.” The changes we had made to the car had really helped, but we were limited by our track position, so the aim of the game was to not make any mistakes, but profit from anyone that did!” said Kipper after the Final, finishing 11th.

Kipper and team now look forward to racing at one of 2 tracks he has tested at previously, Winton Raceway, over the weekend of the 18th-20th of May.

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