JAMES WINSLOW has welcomed himself back into the F3 Australian Drivers Championship after superbly taking out a competitive first race at Sandown Raceway in Melbourne this afternoon.
After qualifying third, Winslow charged past pole sitter John Magro and points leader Chris Gilmour in the frenetic opening laps to take the race lead.
A mistake from Magro on lap two saw him cede second to Gilmour and the driver of the bright red Dallara then set about chasing down Winslow, setting a new lap record in his chase of the flying Briton. By the sixth lap the pair were nose to tail and engaged in a mighty fight for the lead, Winslow twice forced to go super-defensive on the front straight as Gilmour attacked.
Winslow did enough to hold on and scored an additional point on the final lap of the race when he re-broke the lap record, re-setting the ten-year-old benchmark to a flying 1m08.889 seconds. Both Magro and Gilmour were both also comfortably under the old lap record.
After missing the previous round of the championship in Queensland, Winslow was justifiably pleased to return to the winners circle for the first time since Darwin in July this year.
“The car was going really well and I think it’s the first time ever that I’ve been able to get a better start than Chris Gilmour,” Winslow smiled post-race.
“We had some minor niggling issues throughout practice and qualifying but the car ran faultlessly. It was a great battle with Chris all race and it was great to bring it home.
“The car got better all race and it was pretty nice to be able to break the lap record on the last lap, too. We just have to keep chipping away and getting as many points as possible – but it’s far from over.”
The battle for the Forpark Australia F3 Scholarship was just as intense as the one for the outright race lead, Steel Guiliana coming through to lead his teammate Josh Burdon to a class 1-2 finish.
Ben Gersekowski made a strong start and led the race early but was shuffled back on lap two after being forced to take evasive action when John Magro bounced over the kerb at turn four. That allowed Guiliana and Burdon through to take the class victory.
The results close up the battle for the F3 Australian Drivers Championship title with two races still remaining this weekend, Gilmour now leading Magro by just 18 points – with Winslow a further six points further behind. There are 34 points up for grabs across tomorrow’s two races.
Earlier, John Magro used a stunning last-ditch lap to take pole position, his third of the season and his fifth front-row qualifying position from five attempts this season.
Magro dug deep in the final moments of qualifying and, after trailing championship leader Chris Gilmour by half-a-second all session, banged in a superb 1m08.16s lap to take pole.
James Winslow qualified third, but only just. Clearly battling with outright speed after missing a majority of yesterday’s (dry) second practice when the ECU on his vehicle failed, Winslow just edged out a superb performance from Ben Gersekowski to steal third in the final moments of Qualifying.
For his part, Gersekowski posted a career-best qualifying performance and held third for a majority of the session in his BF Racing F304, the first of the Forpark Australia National Class vehicles.
Two races tomorrow will complete the fifth of seven rounds for the 2011 Championship, before the back-to-back season ending doubleheader at Phillip Island and Symmons Plains, respectively, in November.
The races will be streamed live on the internet this weekend via www.itvlive.com.au and will be broadcast on SBS Speedweek and SPEED TV Australia’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. Chris Gilmour (Gilmour Racing) 120
2. John Magro (Magro Motorsport / Team BRM) 102
3. James Winslow (R-Tek Motorsport) 96
4. Bryce Moore (R-Tek Motorsport) 77
5. Steel Guiliana (R-Tek Motorsport) 70
FORPARK AUSTRALIA F3 NATIONAL CLASS -
1. Steel Guiliana (R-Tek Motorsport) 144
2. Ben Gersekowski (BF Racing) 141
3. Roman Krumins (BF Racing) 72
4. Josh Burdon (R-Tek Motorsport) 71
5. Tim Macrow (Tim Macrow Racing) 47
 [copyright-free photo by Phil Willams - www.freewebs.comphilwillmedia]nsp_119.JPG)
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