RECENT NEWS AND OTHER UPDATES
Below are some race reports and other news articles.........
Thomas faces biggest challenge of his career head-on and stuns doctors
In the face of every medical expert opinion, Thomas has defied the odds and made a stunning recovery from his car accident. Since emerging from a coma in December 2020, and being able to learn to talk again, he has continued to focus on his one true passion in life....MOTORSPORT
Mastering walking again has been the focus as Thomas has pushed at 120% in every facet of rehab possible to regain strength, mobility, coordination and balance to prepare for a return to Motorsport.
The #67 Mygale Formula Ford is under a makeover process, ready for its owner to resume his racing career and attend to unfinished business.
This is of course, a professional career in the USA.
​
An article documenting an earlier phase of his recovery is found here....
​
WATCH THIS SPACE......
Motorsport career temporarily on hold following serious motor vehicle accident
On the 16th of September 2020, Thomas was unfortunately involved in a serious motor vehicle accident only 1km from home. He was airlifted to Waikato Hospital where he spent 73 days in a coma and on life support. The prognosis was not good, but Team Boniface rallied together and were surrounded by incredibly supportive and skilled medical professionals who worked together to stabilise Thomas and begin the journey back to a full recovery. He was transferred to a specialist Rehabilitation facility in Auckland where he spent another 6 months learning how to talk, eat, and recreate bodily movements. In April 2021, Thomas was released back to Taranaki where he will continue to recover back to where he wants to be to continue his motor racing dream.....
The initial newspaper article is here....
Feb. 7 to 9, 2020 - ITM NZ Formula Ford Championship Round 5, Pukekohe Park Raceway
The disappointment of a DNS the previous weekend was quickly forgotten with the huge amount of work required to remove the engine and get it to Bryan Hartley for a rebuild. As a result of the oil leak and subsequent loss of oil pressure, it was determined the engine needed a substantial overhaul. However, as always, Bryan and Nelson Hartley turned the engine around in three days...outstanding effort!
A couple of quick trips to Palmerston North and back to collect the engine were made and with the help of Scott Balsom, the engine was refitted and fired up. The team headed to Pukekohe full of optimism for good results. Having cut it so fine to get the racecar back together, the morning practice session was missed. In the afternoon, Thomas got to run the fresh engine and the car was not quite where we needed to be (7th fastest) to mix it up front with the leaders.
A bit of head-scratching overnight and some "tweaks" allowed more speed to be unlocked, with Thomo placing the car on P3 in qualifying. The engine was even better than before as the lap times were a full second quicker than the last event for us at Pukekohe!
This is about the point where the weekend started to head South....Race 1 was an absolute stunner, with Thomas taking the race win following a brilliant duel with the front-runners. However, post race it was discovered that the car failed the ride height specification due to a very slightly damaged side pod from the racing....a DQ and very disappointed driver.
Race 2 was another great drive until the very last lap. With Thomo sitting in 2nd spot, he was targeted by another driver who was determined "not to loose another race to that Rookie" and taken out, causing significant damage to the rear suspension and forcing a DNF! With not enough parts to repair the car, it had to be parked for the season, creating much frustration, as the offending driver did not recieve a penalty which was unexplainable.
Some special people helped all weekend, including Scott Balsom, Kenny Smith and Robbie Ngatoa.
Jan. 31 to Feb. 1, 2020 - ITM NZ Formula Ford Championship
Round 4, Hampton Downs, Waikato
With only a one-week turnaround and a long drive from Invercargill to Hampton Downs, the team arrived in time to complete only two test sessions prior to qualifying. Another blistering display gave Thomas his second pole position in as many weeks and set him up for a great weekend. During Race 1, it was discovered that the clutch was slipping slightly and the lack of power only allowed a 3rd place finish. The crew set about changing this overnight and Thomas immediately responded with a race win the next day. Unfortunately, during race two, the engine suffered some terminal damage due to an oil leak which developed during the race, The engine gave up (luckily) as he crossed the finish line, still giving a race win. This forced the first DNS for the season and having to sit out the last race. Disappointed, the team will regroup and await news from Bryan Hartley to see if we can make the grid at Pukekohe for Round 5 of the Championship. It is hopeful the damage to the engine is minimal.
Even with the DNS, Thomas retained fifth position in the championship, with the goal being to achieve a podium finish in his debut season. Team Boniface Racing would like to thank all the supporters and members of his Partner/Supporters club who have enabled him to compete in the Championship.
Jan. 23 to 24, 2020 - ITM NZ
Formula Ford Championship
Round 3, Teretonga Raceway, Invercargill
The long drive to Invercargill was a fun trip, as we travelled with Robbie, Tracey and Kaleb Ngatoa. We also had Donna with us on a knee scooter after a fall off a ladder a week earlier.
Once down in the deep south, we got set up with our pit site at the beautifully sunny Teretonga Raceway. Thomas completed two of the three available test session to dial himself and the car in. These sessions left him in 4th and 6th place respectively. Qualifying was a wet affair, so the setup was "tweaked" to allow the speed required. With no prior testing or knowledge of the twisty southern circuit, Thomas stunned the field by recording the fastest time in Qualifying to start his Mygale SJ13a from the front row of the grid. Thomas saved his best until the last lap, stealing Pole Position off our travel partner, Kaleb Ngatoa, by only 0.029s. This was an awesome effort, earning him the Evolution Motorsport Pole Award and $500!
Race 1 rolled around at 1:30pm and anticipation was high. Thomas muffed his start, which dropped him back to third spot for most of the race. However, a slight mistake at turn 7 on the second-to-last lap cost another couple of places and a 5th place finish
Race two was another start from the front row of the grid and another great battle with NZ's best Formula Ford drivers. This time, Thomas grabbed the third spot on the podium, picking up the fastest lap of the entire weekend (1:02.795) and 6/100ths off the overall lap record. Race 3 was another fantastic display, with the 67 Mygale ending up with another third place finish. Thomas finished fourth for the weekend and continued his learning about how to extract the maximum out of the car. The tight layout of the track makes it almost impossible to pass, and more work is required to improve race starts to maintain track position.
Oct. 18 to 20, 2019 - ITM NZ
Formula Ford Championship
Round 2, Circuit Chris Amon, Manfield
Since Rd 1, the engine received a full ground-up rebuild by master engine builder, Bryan Hartley in Palmerston North. As the engine came fully ready to race, the car was ready and the driver was ready to see what we had. After a long drive to Manfeild, Thomas was ready to hit the track on Friday for some practice sessions. The first session was a good shake-down and the engine seemed fast. The final practice session was timed in case Qualifying was rained out on Saturday morning. Thomas was quickest over James Penrose and on provisional pole position! We packed up really happy and prepared for qualifying on Saturday morning. The weather was awesome and qualifying was set for 11:40am. Thomas did a fantastic job, placing the car on P3 with a 1:13.126. Race 1 was scheduled for 4:10pm and it was a fantastic race! The pace up front was intense, the lead changed hands many times as the drivers all drafted each other. On the last lap, Thomas was in P2 and made a move on the leader into “Go Media”. With a drag race to the finish line, only 0.106s separated the winner and Thomas so this was a great result and the team were very happy. Sunday morning saw the team full of confidence for the day. Thomas started Race 2 from P3 at 11:40am. He got a great start and some more intense driving followed. The race was very exciting and Thomas battled hard. This time he had a great run into the last corner and sprinted down the track to cross the line in P1...he did it! His first race win, and in Race 5 as well (the same race he scored his first race win when driving Formula First). Race 3 rolled around in the afternoon and another fantastic battle between the top drivers unfolded. Thomas was in 2nd place with one lap to go when contact occurred between him and another driver, with Thomas crossing the line in 1st place. After some discussion with the officials, the decision was made that this was simply a racing incident and Thomas kept his second race win. Thomas finished 1st overall for the weekend and has now moved from 12th to 5th in the NZ Championship! Thank you to Bryan Hartley, Robbie Ngatoa and Tracey Toulmin, Jared Lawson and Donna for keeping things calm in the pits. Thanks to our partners, Collingwood Civil, Tricky Tree Specialists, Brand-X and Performance Industry. There is a decent break now for two months, so Rd3 and Invercargill here we come!
Sept. 13 to 15, 2019 - ITM NZ
Formula Ford Championship
Round 1, Pukekohe Raceway, Auckland
The FAE Winter Series provided great testing to learn the car and how to try and get the best out of it. We were optimistic things were going to be great in front of such a big audience and support category to the V8 Supercars. However, this was a weekend to forget! During official practice, Thomas struggled with the car setup, having to be rebuilt after a last-minute test session the week before which ended up with damage to the LF and LR of the car. Thanks to some great work by Rick Michels and others in Australia, we were able to rebuild the car the night beforehand. Thanks to David John at Team Kiwi Racing we were able to scale the car late the night before after fitting the QA1 dampers the same night. With some advice from the legend himself, Kenny Smith OBE, we dialled in the car prior to Qualifying. Thomas did a great job of qualifying the car, securing P7 and improving times by 1.3s. The first race saw a good start and things were looking good until Turn 5, when his team-mate locked his brakes and crashed into Thomas damaging the RR suspension and forcing a DNF….LAP 1! After some frantic repair work by Scott Balsom, the borrowing of parts from fellow competitors and some expert help from Tom Penrose, the car was ready to run again. With no opportunity to scale the car and a quick wheel alignment, Thomas hit the track with a start from P8. A good race, but the car was noticeably down on corner-exit speed. Thomas battled and ended up with seventh across the line and some more chances to make some more setup changes. The final race on Sunday morning was a start from P6 and another frustrating race with a lack of power. After some head-scratching, it was clear we needed to get the engine serviced, and quickly! Disappointed with the finishing position of 12th overall for the weekend and the championship, we loaded up and headed home. The engine was subsequently removed and dropped to the master (Bryan Hartley) to get a birthday. Bryan is confident he can give us what we need, so we’ll keep you posted on the outcome prior to Rd 2 at Manfeild in October.
Some special people helped all weekend, including Scott Balsom, Kenny Smith, Tom Penrose, Jared and Kristy Lawson, and Brett Boniface. Thank you to Donna for keeping things calm in the pits, we’ll be back better, faster and stronger!