HOLIHAN TAKES VICTORY & BECOMES NEW CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER

Daniel Holihan grabbed his first ever victory in the first round of the NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship, netting three podiums, a pole position and all round PB’s for the weekend. Holihan accumulated 81 championship points, now leading the category by 9 points, with four rounds remaining. Listec Race Cars driver, William Lowing, had dominated the entire weekend before running off at turn one, whilst hunting down a duratec car. Meanwhile, the current NSW Formula Ford Champion, Scott Tidyman, ran into mechanical issues throughout the weekend, leaving rookie driver, Max Mason and veteran Joshua Glinn, to fight for second and third placings.

***The current NSW Formula Ford State Championship points after the first round.***

Holihan commented - ”I’m very lucky to have Barton Mawer coaching and mentoring me. I’ve made every moment count. I idolised him growing up when racing go-karts. To have him in my corner, whilst working week after week with him at the shop building and making stuff, makes this win feel so sentimental to me as a driver. The hard work away from the track is definitely paying off.”

Daniel Holihan has finished on the podium twelve times in a row since joining Barton Mawer Motorsport after lockdown in 2020. Since then the teams goal has been to win the NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship and John Smith Club Championship Trophy, in hopes of doing something else on the track in the future. There have been talks in the past of Daniel Holihan joining his step father in Prod Sports, racing a Porsche GT3 Cup Car, but it will depend if Dan can prove himself under a small privateer team.

The decision was made late last year to bring in experienced racing engineer, Julian Perusic, from PE Racing to help guide the team to race wins. Now that the team has already projected its first goal, the next thing on the list for the team, is to win the NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship in 2022.

“I think Dan can do it. He’s pretty focused this season, he was fastest by a full second in the wet during his qualifying run and finished 5th outright beating many of the duratec’s. We haven’t done any test days this season or brought out the Historic Formula Ford for a run, so he can only get better from here. He’s quite good under pressure and is determined to win the state championship this year. I’m hoping he brings the same form to Wakefield Park in a few weeks.” - Mawer commented.

The next round at Wakefield Park in Goulburn is only in a few weeks away on the 13-15th of May. The team hopes to improve over the next few months. With more R&D coming from Spectrum/Borland Racing Developments and Ellery Motorsport Enterprises, which are helping Barton Mawer engineer the car from a satellite perspective. Will Daniel Holihan be able to withstand the pressure of being the points leader after the first round? We will all find out in a few weeks time at Wakefield Park.