Double-chance awaits Formula 4 field at Winton

The CAMS PAYCE Australian Formula 4 Championship reaches a critical point in this year’s title hunt, with six races across two rounds to be held next weekend at Winton Motor Raceway.

It will be Australian Formula 4’s second appearance at the Shannons Nationals in 2018, after June’s Phillip Island round.

AGI Sport’s Jayden Ojeda made the most of that Phillip Island weekend, claiming a clean sweep of Castrol Pole Position and three race wins. The New South Welshman then repeated that feat at Queensland Raceway, and holds a 25 point lead over his nearest rival Cameron Shields.

With six races to be held across Saturday and Sunday, it’s a challenge that Ojeda has not experienced even in his karting days.

“I’d never done that many races in a race weekend, so it’ll be a new experience for myself and it’ll be a lot to take in,” Ojeda said.

“Having three races on the one day will be a lot… hopefully we can have a strong car for both rounds.”

Despite Winton being a popular testing venue for Australian Formula 4 teams, 2018 will be the first time in the championship’s history that Winton will formally host a race weekend.

“I mean it’s going to be all hell down there, especially with such a tight track as well,” Ojeda said.

“A lot of tracks we’ve gone through this year have been nice, open and flowing. To change the style of the track as well will be interesting and hopefully change the field up a little bit.”

A maximum of 150 points is on offer across Saturday and Sunday’s races, which will play a major part in this year’s title story.

Ojeda, who is in his first season of Formula 4, will face some strong competition with his teammate Ryan Suhle, Cameron Shields and Aaron Love in the thick of the championship hunt. While Ojeda is in the preferable position in the lead, the trio behind him already have more than a year’s experience of Formula 4 machinery.

“I knew Shields was a good steerer and I knew it was always going to be close. To have Ryan as well who had done last year… it was always going to be tight,” Ojeda explained.

“It’s going to be very hard to try to piece the puzzle together at the end of the year, but I mean if we keep putting our best foot forward, I think we can come away for a few more strong results.

“Hopefully at the end of it get the big piece of cake and get the championship.”

The CAMS PAYCE Australian Formula 4 Championship will qualify twice on Friday 31 August, followed by round four’s races on Saturday, and round five’s on Sunday.

Round five will be streamed live and free on the Shannons Nationals livestream at speedseries.com.au.