NZ Formula Ford title battle heats up at Hampton Downs this weekend

With two rounds remaining in the 2025 Napa Auto Parts New Zealand Formula Ford Championship there are just 73-points covering the top four competitors. Heading to the penultimate round at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park this weekend, Palmerston North’s Blake Dowdall has a 38-point advantage over Cantabrian Will Neale with Australian Lincoln Taylor in third and Auckland’s Dylan Grant in fourth.

Dowdall has four race victories from the two South Island rounds held in late January/early February with Neale and Taylor each with a win. The advantage may well be in Dowdall’s favour as he recently won a North Island Formula Ford (NIFF) Series round also held at Hampton Downs.

“The car goes well around Hampton Downs,” said Dowdall. “It’s my most successful circuit and the car is really quick so looking forward to it.

The round will see drivers competing for the Ron Frost Trophy as well as doubling as the fifth and penultimate round of the 2024/25 Giltrap Group North Island Formula Ford Series in which Dowdall has a narrow 12-point lead over Toby McCormack.

“We’ve done plenty of laps at both Hampton Downs and Manfeild,” said Dowdall. “It’s a very different track in the wet from the dry and it’s important to keep in mind the elevation changes particularly with braking zones downhill and also over crests. It’s a track we have done really well at in the past. The car is fast, I just need to sit in it, hit my marks and keep the nose clean until the end of the championship.”

Recently crowned the 2024/25 South Island Formula Ford champion, Neale has this season struggled for pace but shown consistency standing on the podium five times including winning the last feature race at Highlands Motorsport Park. Both Neale and third placed Taylor will be a threat to Dowdall for race wins. Taylor is in his rookie Formula Ford season and impressed at the opening round in Timaru taking victory in just his third race.

Also in the mix will be Grant and former national champion James Penrose while Toby McCormack may surprise given his recent performance in the NIFF round four weeks ago at the same circuit.

“After this (NIFF) round we are definitely excited to see what we can do,” commented McCormack. “In the south we had issues and now finally have got these sorted and was able to show some true pace so excited for the next round.”

Sixth place Jacob Begg makes his first trip to the North Island while Izaac Fletcher, who has previously competed at Hampton Downs, will be looking to improve. Rookie Campbell Owens will be looking to carry his speed and form at the recent NIFF round and break into the top ten on the points table.

Rookie Marco Manson could surprise the national field after finishing third in all three races on debut at the recent NIFF round.

Drivers will face a 20 minute qualifying session followed by three 20 min races.

The winner of the 2025 national championship will be eligible for six Superlicence points towards participating in the Repco Supercars Championship. The recently announced return of the Superlicence sees drivers requiring 15 points, earned over the past five years, to be eligible to race in Supercars.

On the line for fastest qualifier is a $1,010.10 cash prize from the Hampton Downs NZ Racing Academy. The prize is in addition to the $51,000 travel fund made available by the Tony Quinn Foundation. NAPA Auto Parts will again offer prizes for Driver of the Day while Yokohama return to the series as the tyre of choice for Formula Ford Racing in NZ.

This summer sees a collaboration between Rodin Cars and MotorSport NZ to create a new pathway to Formula 1 with the NZFF champion and selected Formula Ford drivers invited to an all-expenses-paid, three-day testing and evaluation program with Rodin Cars in New Zealand. From there a driver who exhibits exceptional talent has the possibility to test with Rodin Motorsport in the UK with the possibility of securing a seat in one of Rodin’s F4 teams.