| Open wheel champions to face off in Darwin |
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By: F3 Media Release Date: 14/6/2012 at 2:42:40 PM |
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THE TWO TOP open-wheel drivers in Australia at the moment will feature in the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship field set for the SKYCITY Triple Crown event in Darwin this weekend.
Reigning Australian champion Chris Gilmour will return however it is the addition of the current Australian Formula Ford Champion, 19-year-old Mildura driver Cameron Waters that has people talking.
Waters’ won last years’ Formula Ford title at a canter and was also given an opportunity to make his Bathurst 1000 start after he won the ‘Supercar Showdown’ reality TV show, sponsored by top V8 outfit Kelly Racing.
It is the first time that the current Australian Formula 3 and Formula Ford Champions will have raced in the same F3 field; The Darwin grid also includes 2008 champion and current points’ leader, British ace James Winslow.
Australia’s fastest racing cars will contest three races, the Sunday finale’ the second running of the Formula 3 City of Darwin Cup, Formula 3’s marquee race.
Waters has teamed with the factory-supported Mygale Australia team for his Formula 3 debut and is confident of a strong showing in the top end.
“I raced at Hidden Valley in Formula Ford and I love the place,” he says.
“The track has everything you’d want – a long front straight and the technical, twisty part where the Formula 3 cars will be able to use their downforce really well. I can’t wait.”
Waters tested the car – one of only two French-built Mygale chassis competing in Australian Formula 3 – last week in his first ever laps behind the wheel of a ‘wings and slicks’ racing car. Suffice to say, he was impressed.
“It was Awesome. They have so much grip and you can push them so hard through the corners and under brakes.”
Reigning champion Chris Gilmour knows all about a Formula 3 cars’ grip – his career tally of more than 120 race starts and 47 podium finishes are the best in championship history.
Gilmour sits second in this years’ series after a slightly frustrating start to his title defence, but came on strongly at the most recent round at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, where he set the outright lap record – some four seconds quicker than the V8 supercar benchmark.
The Queenslander has not yet won a race this season but says there is no better time to start than Darwin.
“Hidden Valley was the place where we first showed last year that we could take the fight up to Winslow,” Gilmour says, confidently.
The pair came together in the opening race of last years’ Darwin round, Gilmour’s car spectacularly tipped onto two wheels and nearly into a roll before crashing back to earth whilst dicing for the lead.
“We raced him hard and showed that we weren’t going to be afraid to have a proper go to win races and win the championship and it’s time to show that kind of fight again. We’re a long way behind but there is plenty of racing left in the championship and more than enough time to close the gap – but we need to start winning races.”
Gilmour trails championship leader James Winslow by 42 points after three of seven rounds.
North Queenslander John Magro won his first (and so far only) Formula 3 race in Darwin last year and remains F3’s qualifying king, having scored pole in two of this years’ three rounds held so far.
His Team BRM team-mate Jordan Skinner, from Adelaide, won his first F3 race at Bathurst and will be another looking to use a Darwin win to build his championship challenge at the seasons’ half-way mark.
Forpark National Class champion Steel Guiliana will look to use his Darwin experience to kick start his title campaign at the seasons' mid-way point, at a track he knows and performed well at last season. He'll be back in his usual R-Tek F307 Mercedes.
In the Forpark Australia F3 National Class – for older model cars – Queensland team-mates Hayden Cooper and Ben Gersekowski will continue to do battle but will also have their eyes on the front running ‘outright’ vehicles as they attempt to score a sneaky podium finish.
Victorian driver Lockie Marshall will make his championship debut this weekend, months after fracturing his wrist in pre-season training, whilst Mike Wayne returns in the second R-Tek 304 Dallara.
Formula 3 cars lap Hidden Valley up to three seconds faster than the V8 Supercars thanks mainly to their high-speed cornering and braking ability.
Formula 3 cars weigh just 540kg and are powered by two-litre, Production based four cylinder engines producing 190kw. Current V8 Supercar drivers with Australian Formula 3 experience include Karl Reindler (2004 F3 Champion), Michael Caruso (2003 F3 Champion) and Tim Slade (2004 / 2005 race winner).
The Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship will contest three races across the SKYCITY Triple Crown weekend.
DARWIN FORMULA 3 FACT FILE:
2011 Pole Position: James Winslow (UK)
2011 City of Darwin Cup Winner: Kristian Lindbom (VIC)
Qualifying Lap Record: 1:05.6187 (James Winslow, Great Britain)
Race Lap Record: 1:06.7878 (Bryce Moore, WA)
Average lap speed: 154km/hr
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