Toowoomba teen eager to set pace at Philip Island

Toowoomba Formula 4 racer prepares for big weekend at Philip Island.

ON TRACK: Toowoomba's Cameron Shields battles through the pack during round three of the Formula Ford Championship at Wakefield Park Raceway, NSW. Picture: Rhys Vandersyde - Insyde Media

MOTORSPORT: Mechanical issues and yellow flags put the brakes on Cameron Shields' last racing weekend - but the Toowoomba ace will not be stopped.

Shields was forced to draw on every ounce of his skill and experience during a testing round three of the Formula Ford Championship at Wakefield Park Raceway, NSW.

"It was a bit of difficult weekend right from the get go,” Shields said.

"We qualified eighth which was not optimal - not where we wanted to be. But we managed to move forward and by the last race we were sitting in fourth which was really good - where we wanted to be.

"We had a chance to battle for the lead but unfortunately there was a few big accidents and we had to stop the race.”

Despite missing out on a podium finish, the young Toowoomba Grammar School student still took positives from the weekend.

"We didn't get our opportunity to keep moving forward and push for the win but it was still a good result,” he said.

"The only way you can get better at doing anything is by doing it. The whole idea of this year has been to race in as many things as I can and so it has paid off.

"I'm getting lots of experience.”

Putting his Formula Ford tribulations in his rear-view mirror Shields turns his attention to Formula 4.

Shields heads to Philip Island on Friday for round two of the Formula 4 Championship.

"It's an awesome circuit so I'm really looking forward to racing down there this weekend,” Shields said.

"It's a really fast track, probably one of the fastest tracks in Australia - it's quite difficult and a lot of car set-up comes into play with such long and fast corners.”

Shields said he hoped to extend his Formula 4 lead in round two.

"We're currently leading the national championship,” he said.

"And hopefully after this weekend we can come out with a bigger lead.”

Originally published as Toowoomba teen eager to set pace at Philip Island