MAT SOFI has completed a clinic in ‘how to drive Eastern Creek’ during this weekends’ third round of the F3 Australian Drivers Championship in Sydney.
The Liverpool-based driver won race two this morning before dominating the feature race to take his first ever clean-sweep of F3 races in a weekend. In a near faultless drive, the Astuti Motorsport driver won the feature race by eight seconds this afternoon in the most crushing weekend of his racing career.
James Winslow (R-Tek) finished second and Chris Gilmour (Gilmour Racing) third to continue their close battle for the outright championship, however neither could catch the inspired Sofi and his Mugen Honda-powered Astuti Dallara this weekend.
Sofi scored every point available bar two this weekend – Winslow snaring a pair of fastest laps and the new lap record – and now has four career victories and 16 podiums to his credit.
“It was one of those weekends where it all came together,” an elated Sofi said.
“I have to send huge thanks to the Sam (Astuti) and the team because they gave me a brilliant car that was super consistent and great to drive, not to mention really quick!
“The field may not be the largest, but when you have guys like James Winslow in it, you know it’s very competitive so to be able to beat guys like him this weekend makes it a very satisfying thing to do.
"Believe me, I was driving as hard as I could and it was super, super tough all weekend."
Winslow struggled in today’s final race with a gear shifting issue that made it difficult to select second, third and fourth gears, but preserved to finish second in the feature race and extend his championship lead to a not-yet comfortable 19 points.
Gilmour’s third moved him to a clear second in the championship as the series approaches its half way point, the Queenslander continually edging his Gilmour Racing F307 closer to the front of the field and his first F3 win in seven years.
“Every round we’re getting closer and closer. If you take Sofi out of the equation this weekend we were bang on Winslow’s pace most of this weekend and that’s where we need to be,” Gilmour said.
“It feels good to be chasing another championship, it’s been a while. Last year was a learning season but we’re on top of the car and now we have something to chase we’re very competitive.
“There’s a long way to go but we’re feeling good about it at the moment.”
John Magro and Bryce Moore finished just of the podium and are now separated by just two points in the championship, West Aussie Moore just ahead of his Queensland counterpart in third and fourth, respectively.
The battle for the Forpark Australia F3 Scholarship rose up a notch, National class contenders Ben Gersekowski (BF Racing) and Steel Guiliana (R-Tek Motorsport) separated by literally millimetres in their battle today.
After Gersekowski won race one yesterday, Guiliana returned serve in today’s second sprint race to win by just one-tenth of a second in a race long battle that saw the pair swapping positions regularly.
Gersekowski bounced back in the finale and, despite being pushed hard, won relatively comfortably in the end to take the lead in the class standings – with his closest rival just four points behind.
Tasmanian Josh Burdon was third overall, bouncing back with race-leading pace today after a disappointing crash yesterday, whilst Roman Krumins edged closer to the class leaders and was fourth.
The next round of the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship will be contested at Queensland’s Morgan Park Raceway, near Warwick, in August.
Action from this weekend’s round can be caught on SBS’ Speedweek and SPEED TV’s Inside Speed in coming weeks.
The F3 Australian Drivers Championship is proudly supported by Forpark Australia, Kumho Tyres, ELF, Performance Friction Brakes, City of Darwin and Race Torque Media.
More information about the championship can be found at www.formula3.com.au
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS -
1. James Winslow (R-Tek Motorsport) 85
2. Chris Gilmour (Gilmour Racing) 66
3. Bryce Moore (R-Tek Motorsport) 60
4. John Magro (Magro Motorsport / Team BRM) 58
5. Mat Sofi (Astuti Motorsport) 46
FORPARK AUSTRALIA F3 NATIONAL CLASS -
1. Ben Gersekowski (BF Racing) 94
2. Steel Guiliana (R-Tek Motorsport) 90
3. Josh Burdon (R-Tek Motorsport) 62
4. Roman Krumins (BF Racing) 60
5. Tim Macrow (Tim Macrow Racing) 47
 [copyright-free photo by Phil Willams - www.freewebs.comphilwillmedia]nsp_119.JPG)
nsp_119.jpg)
