Australian Formula Ford Championship competitors Liam Sager and Mathew Hart have kicked off their Tasmanian sojourn with promise, after finishing today’s practice sessions in seventh and ninth places respectively.

The Synergy racers are enjoying some new-found speed but still need to find the elusive slipstream ‘tow’ from their fellow competitors to further improve their lap times. Hart proved this in his first session, finishing with the second fastest time after getting a good tow.

“With such a short lap distance, every fraction helps here,” Seears Workwear Spectrum pilot Mat Hart explains.

“I struggled to get a good tow today which is a bit of a shame because our cars are really quick … and knowing there’s up to almost half a second in a good tow around here – and being just over four-tenths off the leader gives me plenty of confidence we can get the job done tomorrow,” he added.

“The main point is that we have good race pace – while it’s always an advantage to start up the front, around here it’s not the end of the world and you could win the race from back in tenth if you keep up with the leaders.”

Hart’s Synergy team mate Liam Sager didn’t have the best of starts today, when an oil line in his #10 Xceed Spectrum split causing him to miss most of the first session. Sager recovered though after some hasty repairs to finish the day in ninth place.

“Practice one was obviously a bit of a disaster but we turned the day around pretty quickly,” Sager said.

“We put a new engine in and although we’re a little down on straight-line speed we’ll make a few changes tonight and be back in the chase tomorrow for qualifying.”

The Synergy Motorsport Spectrums return to the Symmons Plains circuit tomorrow at 12.05pm for a 20-minute qualifying session, followed by race one at 2.40pm.