| Gilmour turns the tide with pole and win in Darwin |
| Story
By: F3 Media Release Date: 16/6/2012 at 3:52:19 PM |
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In 2011, Chris Gilmour defined Darwin’s inaugural Formula 3 round as the turning point, a time when he showed that he would be a title contender for the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship.
This weekend at the very same race track, he’s doing exactly the same thing.
The Queenslander today scored pole position and won race one of this weekend’s fourth round of the Gold Star title race, as part of the SKYCITY Triple Crown at Hidden Valley.
After scoring his first pole position since his 2004 championship contending season, Gilmour made his customary strong start and controlled the 12-lap race from there, beating John Magro and James Winslow to the line after a relatively straightforward race.
Winslow set the fastest lap and scored the bonus point that goes with it – coming to within 0.1s of the lap record in the process - but otherwise the day went the way of the bright blue Dallara driven by the defending champion.
“The car is good, I didn’t actually think my start was very good at all – it was just that the rest of the field didn’t seem to get away as good as I did,” he grinned.
“Once we were in front I was able to control the race. It’s great to get a win, there’s something about this place that works with us so we’re going to make the most of it.
“It’s only one race of three but it’s a positive start to the weekend.”
Magro’s second and Winslow’s third were relatively straightforward, Winslow closing on the leaders in the closing laps but not enough to really challenge for any improvement in position.
In an impressive F3 debut, Cam Waters finished fourth in the Mygale M-07, giving the French constructor its best ever finish in Australian Formula 3.
Waters made a stunning start from sixth on the grid and took advantage of some turn one dramas from other contenders to slip around the outside and into the top four – even challenging Winslow for third on the opening lap before dropping back from the former champion.
From there he held off the advances of Jordan Skinner to open his F3 account just one position off the podium.
Skinner was fifth and Steel Guiliana sixth, recovering from a slow start that dropped him to the back of the field.
In the Forpark Australia National Class F3 rookie Lockie Marshall won his first F3 race, beating R-Tek driver Mike Wayne home as the pair of drivers both logged their career-best performances today.
Marshall had earlier qualified just two-tenths behind class leader Hayden Cooper but drove a strong race to score seventh outright and win his class after an early challenge from the ever-improving Wayne.
The story may have been different had turn one gone differently, however, after Cooper was turned around on the opening lap as the field shuffled into the tight hairpin.
Cooper had made a stunning start and had mixed it with the outright cars on the long run to the first corner, however received a hit in his left-rear corner that turned his car around and dropped him to the back of the field.
He was able to pass his teammate, Ben Gersekowski, but couldn’t make any further ground and settled for third in class.
For his part, Gersekowski completed the race without the use of much more than half-throttle, his car still badly misfiring with an apparent electronic or engine issue that is severely hampering the performance of his Dallara.
The F3 Australian Drivers’ Championship returns for a further two races tomorrow, including the 15-lap City of Darwin Cup race tomorrow afternoon.
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