CHRIS GILMOUR has returned to the winners list in the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship for the first time in seven years after a dramatic 12-lap sprint race today at Morgan Park, Queensland.
It had been 86 races since Gilmour’s last outright race win at Mallala in September, 2004, but the Brisbane real estate agent was able to use his customarily good start to jump pole sitter John Magro on the run to turn one and take a lead he would never lose, brining his #17 Gilmour Racing / Racecarparts.com.au Dallara home for a triumphant victory.
The race began in dramatic fashion when Tasmanian youngster Josh Burdon rolled his Dallara F304 three times after contact with another vehicle as the cars ran into the quick turn one-two complex.
The Dallara was tipped onto its side and the 18-year-old from Hobart was left a passenger as it completed three complete revolutions in the air before landing upright but heavily damaged.
Burdon climbed from the car under his own power and emerged unscathed from the crash, though was clearly shaken by the dramatic accident.
“I just felt the hit as we all went into turn one and two and it went over,” Burdon explained.
“It was over very quickly and the safety team and officials were on the scene really quickly to help me get out of the car and I have to thank them for being there before the car even stopped moving.
“I’m physically fine and will probably just be a bit sore tomorrow but it puts a big dent in our plans to carry on this year because this will kill what little budget we had.”
The race was held under safety car for six laps whilst the damaged car was removed from the outside of the first corner before Gilmour led them back to the green flag for the sprint to the finish.
Gilmour battled to hold the lead from Magro and Bryce Moore but as his tyres came up to temperature his race lead extended to eventually take the chequered flag unchallenged and break a winless streak that stretches back to 2004.
“It’s nice to get that monkey off the back,” Gilmour said.
“My start was really good and that was enough to get into turn one and control the race from there. I felt I had good cold tyre pace and was able to get a bit of a gap over Magro on the restart and do enough to get the win.
“It’s a great feeling and now we need to go on with it for the championship. Getting a win here was always a plan so it’s a great result and really closes things up in the points.
“Big thanks to ‘team Errol’ (Father Errol Gilmour) for his work, the car was super quick and there’s more to come.”
Magro was a solid second and, with Moore third, the championship now closes up dramatically with the top four drivers now split by just 15 points at the top of the standings.
Moore’s third place was his best race result since Darwin, the R-Tek driver now just one point behind Magro in the championship standings after his strong race result, despite having to deal with some oil on his rear tyres in the closing few laps of the race.
In the battle for the Forpark Australia F3 Scholarship, Steel Guiliana held off a concerted challenge from local Ben Gersekowski all race long to close the margin at the top of the class points table to just one solitary point ahead of tomorrow’s two races.
Fellow local hope Roman Krumins failed to finish after a highly competitive showing in Qualifying, after suffering light damage in the opening-turn incident.
Earlier in the day, John Magro took his second pole position of the season and continued his streak of starting every round this year from the front row with a blistering time in Qualifying.
Magro’s high 1m08-second lap stands as the fastest ever ‘official’ lap recorded at Morgan Park, the North Queenslander going on to set a new lap record in the first race as well.
Chris Gilmour qualified second and Bryce Moore third, with Guiliana topping Gersekowski in the battle for the Forpark Australia Scholarship.
Tomorrow will see two races to complete the fourth round of the Formula 3 Australian Drivers’ Championship as part of the Shannons Nationals round at Morgan Park, near Warwick.
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
 [copyright-free photo by Phil Willams - www.freewebs.comphilwillmedia]nsp_119.JPG)
nsp_119.jpg)
