Lucas Romanek (18) from Swindon, had a great final race weekend for 2022, finishing on the top step for the final 2 races at Brands Hatch, to win the final 2 formula ford races for 2022.
Lucas was lapping times just behind the leaders in the qualifying season. He came into the pits midway through the qualifying laps, a slight adjustment to tyre pressure and Lucas Romanek managed to get back up to pace, claiming pole position on the final qualifying lap by a quarter of a second and just before red flags appeared.
Lucas Romanek made a decent getaway in race one, while Walker’s clutch went and put him out of position at the start, earning him a 10s penalty.
Walker took the lead from Romanek on lap four of 24 down the inside at Paddock Hill Bend, but ran wide exiting it and Romanek got back through before Druids.
Romanek set fastest lap several times, but his lead only grew to 0.311s at its peak on lap 10 and just a few corners later Walker overtook him on the inside at Clearways.
Walker finished just 0.042s ahead of Romanek, but dropped to third overall. ‘When I saw the penalty come up I knew there was no point massively fighting,” Romanek, now a three-time Champion of Brands, said. “Alex’s first time back in a long time, so was good to race him again”
The second race and Lucas Romanek again started on pole and led lights-to-flag this time around. Lucas opened up an immediate 1.5s lead for the pack whilst Walker fought through the field to challenge for the lead from about mid race. The pair negotiated almost all as they lapped the field, with Lucas just managing to hold on to the lead, that had shrank to 0.29s by the finish.
“I put everything towards Lucas then but he did a really good job,” Walker said. “I made no mistakes, and just really good pace throughout. The backmarkers got a bit interesting!”
Lucas Romanek managed to win both final races for the final formula ford race of the 2022 series.
Lucas said, ‘we have had a great year, it has been a real rollercoaster for us. We won the national formula ford tourist cup and finished 3rd overall, and 2nd place in the United, but really, if we hadn’t experienced mid-year mechanical failures, we could have won both championships. What we will do is box off 2022 frustrations and continue to move forward. We will go away over the winter and come back stronger in 2023. The formula ford national always brings in the American Academy Scholarship racers, which always brings a serious challenge, but we are confident that we can compete, and will be looking for the overall win next season.’
Lucas confirmed that he will compete nationally next year and is also keen to compete locally at Castle Combe.
Lucas said, ‘we will test over the winter and decide which tracks we will compete in, if we can get enough sponsorship, I would really like to compete locally too. I remember watching racing there and it would be great to also bring excitement to the local race fans’.
