Making his second visit to the circuit affectionately known as "the Paperclip", Lachlan Mineeff has scored a career-best result of third place in Race 3, Round 2 of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at Queensland Raceway on the weekend.
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After steadily improving throughout the event, by his own admission, Mineeff started the weekend more slowly than he would have liked, qualifying 10th and finishing 11th in Race 1 after a cautious drive in appalling weather conditions.
"Practice on Friday went smoothly, and I was very confident of a good showing in qualifying on Saturday morning, but we put new tyres on and I didn't make the most of the extra grip," Mineeff admitted.
I was encouraged by our speed in Race 2 - I was able to make some good overtaking moves, and I felt we had the pace to improve even further in Race 3.
- Lachlan Mineeff
"In Race 1, it was extremely wet. The track was slippery and the visibility was terrible, due to all the spray. Rather than risking a crash, I drove conservatively and concentrated on bringing the car home in one piece."
When the track dried, Mineeff's pace improve considerably. He progressed to seventh in Race 2, and then capitalised on some opportunities to move up to third in Race 3.
Mineeff said the final race was a big confidence-booster.
"I was encouraged by our speed in Race 2 - I was able to make some good overtaking moves, and I felt we had the pace to improve even further in Race 3.
"In the last race, some of the drivers in the leading pack were battling aggressively, and I sensed that I needed to be in a position where I could avoid any incidents while also hopefully capitalising and making up some spots. As it turned out, that was exactly what happened.
"Once I got into the top three, I had the pace to catch up to the cars in front - it was a very positive way to finish the weekend, and carry some strong momentum to the next round at Winton."
Mineeff had recently created history as part of the youngest driver combination to finish an endurance race at Bathurst with fellow Southern Highlander, Tom Sargent.
Round three of the Australian Formula Ford Championship will be held at Winton as a support category for the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, 24-26 May.
