SWINDON’S Lucas Romanek won the Ulster Trophy last weekend to stretch his lead in National Formula Ford.

The teenage talent was on the podium for all three races in Northern Ireland, steadily increasing his finishing position to end with a place on the top step.

Racing for Oldfield Motorsport, Romanek’s usual competition – the BRSCC National championship – combined with the Northern Irish Formula Ford 1600 championship to increase the grid size for the race week.

Having missed out on first place in qualifying by 0.022 seconds, Romanek took the lead early in race one anyway and pulled away as battles behind helped maintain his gap to second.

But on a track he had never competed on before, the Swindon teenager was reeled back in late on to eventually finish third.

After the first race, Romanek said: “the tyres went off towards the end, making it impossible to keep ahead.

“This is the first ever race on this track for me. I am disappointed to not keep the lead, but we learned a lot.”

Starting in third for race two, Romanek once again navigated his way through to first before Ammonite’s Nolan Allaer crashed into the tyre barrier and caused a restart.

Romanek held onto the lead until the closing stages once more, when he was eventually passed and had to make do with second.

But in the final running of the weekend, the Swindon teenager eventually gained a richly-deserved first place.

In the reverse-grid race three, Romanek moved up from sixth into third as he chased down the leaders.

He stayed there until the final lap, and only a magnificent braking manoeuvre on the final hairpin allowed Romanek to snatch victory from Brandon McCaughan and Elliot Budzinski.

That last-gasp win helped Romanek take home the Ulster Trophy – a piece of silverware which dates back to before the Second World War and was last handed out over 30 years ago.

After the weekend, the fifth most successful British driver in the Autosport standings for 2023 said: “this has been a fantastic weekend.

“We came here with no experience of this track, so to come away with three podiums and a win is just beyond what we could have hoped for.

“And then to get the Ulster Trophy and to know my name will be included along with other great racing drivers is just amazing.”