West Australian driver Nick Rowe has claimed his first race win of the 2016 CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship season at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Starting from the U Race It Pole Position, Rowe lead home fellow front row starter Harry Hayek from lights to flag in Saturday’s opening race.

“Yeah that was pretty hard there. Harry got a better initial jump, but just got a better traction and drive,” Rowe said.

“From there on in I just put my head down, I made a few mistakes and he [Hayek] got close every now and then. AGI did a great job to prepare the car, I couldn’t thank them enough.”

Team BRM Laing+Simmons pilot Hayek kept Rowe in sight for the entire race, ultimately only finishing 0.5 seconds behind the AGI Sport car after ten laps of racing.

“It’s so good to be up the front and on the podium,” Hayek said.

“I think when you’re racing cars, you’re always having fun. When you get a good result it’s just the icing on the cake. I can’t really complain right now!”

Hayek, fresh from a stint in British F4, was joined by fellow British F4 driver Luis Leeds on the final step of Saturday’s opening race podium.

“It was a clean race, Harry and I got close a few times, but good opening first race,” Leeds said.

“It’s good to get back into it, we’re all pretty close to each other but we’ll come back stronger tomorrow.”

SCT Logistics/AGI Sport driver Jack Smith enjoyed a much improved showing during Saturday afternoon’s race, after a difficult practice and qualifying outing.

Smith, who is also double-stinting in the Australian GT Trophy Series this weekend, was locked in a thrilling tustle with DREAM Motorsport’s Josh Conroy for fifth place.

“We struggled a fair bit in qualifying and practice, but in the race we found a lot of pace,” Smith said.

“[Double-stinting in Australian GT] It definitely keeps you race sharp, it’s a little bit tricky swapping between the two cars but it keeps you on your toes.”

With the Sydney Motorsport Park round in 2015 being the sight of Rowe’s last Australian Formula 4 race victory, the AGI Sport driver’s win today was crucial to remain in touch with the championship leaders of Jordan Love and Will Brown.

Love and Brown could only manage tenth and fourth respectively, with Brown returning to the lead of the championship by a solitary point over Love with 121 points. Rowe’s 25 points haul keeps the AGI Sport driver in close proximity with 99 points.

Round Three of the CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship will conclude tomorrow with two races at 9:05am and 12:15pm AEST respectively, with free live stream to be made available for tomorrow’s two races.