Lucas Romanek dominates United Formula Ford finale at Brands Hatch as Simon Pruce retires
05:00, 31 October 2023
updated: 07:52, 31 October 2023
Lucas Romanek scored two dominant victories at a damp Brands Hatch on Saturday as the United Formula Ford season came to a close.
The Swindon-based Van Diemen racer was the class of the 11-car field, beating South African Andrew Rackstraw by almost 30 seconds in the first encounter.
The former karter, who had already bagged the title before the meeting, was forced to sit out the Formula Ford Festival a week earlier after receiving a 30-day ban for an "off-track incident" at Silverstone in September.
But he was 2.4s clear of the rest in qualifying and went on to dominate the opening race, as Rackstraw and Jacob Tofts rounded out the podium.
Romanek produced another commanding performance in the second race, which was restarted after Neil Tofts, Jacob's father, hit a spinning Shaun Macklin at McLaren.
Rackstraw and Tofts junior rounded out the podium again, with debutant Ben Powney claiming his second fourth-place finish of the day in the oldest car in the field.
The Hythe-based PA Motorsport driver had been set to drive his 1971-built Jamun T3 at Brands Hatch in September but missed out due to a pre-race gearbox issue.
Behind Powney, Chattenden's Simon Pruce took two seventh-place finishes as he enjoyed his final races in Formula Ford.
The Reynard 89FF driver, who had been in the discipline for 32 years, missed out on September's round through illness but finished second and third in the Heritage class.
On Sunday, PRO-AM RACING won the EnduroKA – Indy KA 500 event, finishing just 4.3s ahead of MilnAir Racing after more than eight hours of racing.
Brands Hatch will host its final event of the season this weekend when the British Truck Racing Championship returns. Visit www.brandshatch.co.uk for details.
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