Exciting AFO title battles to continue in Sandown debut

A healthy entry list has been confirmed for Australian Formula Open’s first visit to Sandown International Raceway this weekend.

Open-wheel racing fans will be treated to 13 exciting entries made up of plenty of youth and experience, with seven F3 and six F4 drivers to go head-to-head and continue their ongoing title battles.

Headlining the field is current AF01 and outright series leader, Trent Grubel who will look to continue his red-hot start to the year and further extend his lead over the impressive Ryan How, who is enjoying a rich run of form with four race wins in his last six appearances.

Tickets for the event can be purchased at motorsporttickets.com.au.

While the title might be out of reach for both Ryan Astley and Winston Van Laarhoven, the duo are locked in an entertaining battle for third with only two points separating the duo ahead of the penultimate round.

The Gilmour Racing duo of Chris Gilmour and Jon Collins will be ones to watch as they are capable of getting good results – both having amassed podium finishes in the limited running they have done this year.

Miles Bromley will round up the F3 entries and is another driver who will be looking to build on some serious form as of late.

Much like Grubel, young gun Brodie Norris will want to separate himself from the chasing pack in the AF04 standings, currently level on points with AGI Sport teammate, Kristian Janev after the latter had a troubled weekend last time out at Queensland Raceway.

Peter Bouzinelos will also take the track in Springvale to make it a trio of AGI entries but will have the Tim Macrow Racing F4 duo of Hanming Huang and Thomas Galagher to compete with.

The remaining AF04 entry will be Patrizicorse/Sp Tools’ Ryan Macmillan, who will return after three podium finishes in his series debut last month.

Tickets for the event can be purchased at motorsporttickets.com.au.

The Australian Formula Open will be one of six national categories to form part of the Shannons SpeedSeries at Sandown International Raceway in September, joining the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series, National Trans Am Series, Kumho V8 Touring Car Series, MARC Cars Australia and the combined Mobil 1 Australian Production Car Series and Monochrome GT4 Australia Series.

The exciting new open-wheel category will take the track for three 20-minute races across the weekend, with the first coming on Saturday before an all-important Sunday hosts the remaining two.

Both races one and three will feature on the Stan Sport broadcast, showcasing the immense talent and side-by-side racing the category delivers.

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Australian Formula Open will hold its fifth round of the 2023 season at Sandown International Raceway on 8-10 September.

ENTRY LIST