OzRacingWrap

ADELAIDE YOUNGSTER SIMON HODGE will make his Australian Formula Ford Championship debut at Sandown Raceway, next weekend.

The 17-year-old is in his first year of car racing and will join South Australian outfit for his first taste of national-level competition this weekend after impressing with victory in a Victorian state championship round – against many national competitors – at the circuit a month ago.

Hodge has stepped into racing cars this season after a highly successful karting career and has targeted the Australian Formula Ford Championship as the next step in 2012.

A partial state-series campaign this year in his Simon Hodge Racing / Team BRM Mygale SJ11 Formula Ford has resulted in strong results as the year-12 high school student looks to step up his racing program alongside his studies.

He says his previous experience at Sandown puts him in a confident frame of mind for his national-series debut this weekend.

“To have that weekend at Sandown under my belt makes it easier going into my first championship round,” he said.

“With the conditions the way they were, it is hard to take too much out of the results we had, but it was good to race against those guys and compete with quality drivers. The team and I are really developing as an outfit, too, which is great.

“It’s amazing to be making my debut in a national round this early in my career but as this year is all about learning, we thought there was no better place to do it than against the best Formula Ford racers in the country.

“This is where I want to be next year so this is an opportunity to get some miles and experience ahead of next season.

“I can’t wait to be working with Team BRM at a track where they have always had fast cars, and where we have already had some success. I think it would be incredible if we can run in the top ten – that would be a dream result.”

Team BRM Manager Mark Rundle said the team was excited to be helping the national debut of another prodigious South Australian driving talent.

“As a team we’ve worked with great drivers from all around the world, but it’s always nice to be able to work with South Australian drivers’ to progress their careers,” he said.

“He’s already shown he has a lot of potential and has developed a lot as a driver already this season. This will be a great chance to see where he sits at this stage in his career and compete against the competitive young guys already in the series.

“It’s a great chance to go out with no pressure for results, learn and get a lot out of the weekend.”

Team BRM will also run a single entry in the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship for John Magro at Sandown, before decamping further south to Phillip Island for the next round of the Porsche City Index Carrera Cup Australia with driver Ben Barker.

The team is supported by TOTAL Lubricants and can be found on Facebook and on Twitter.

More information about Simon Hodge can be found at www.simonhodgeracing.com