18-year-old Zhang Shan Qi and 16-year-old Li Zhi Cong will drive a pair of F304 Dallaras entered by R-Tek Motorsport, the Adelaide based team that this year has run cars for Jesse Wakeman and Roger I’Anson.

Both young drivers are part of the PTRS Racing Team, a well known Chinese-based operation that has run cars in Asian Formula Renault, Formula 3 and other series.

Members of the PTRS team will be present at Sandown to work with with the R-Tek crew in assisting their young protégés adapt to the rigours of Formula 3 competition, as both drivers will be making their respective F3 debuts at Sandown.

“I am very excited as it’s going to be my first F3 race,” Zhang Shan Qi said.

“It is also going to be my first time visiting Australia so I’m very much looking forward to it! I am grateful to have this opportunity to take part in this great event in Australia and also the chance to be able to race with the other drivers from different parts of the world.

“I will definitely do my best and try to gain as much experience as I can for my future racing career.”

Both Shan Qi and Cong have recent experience in the Asian Formula Renault championship, giving them an ideal preparation for the step into a more powerful Formula 3 car.

“Both drivers have got wings and slicks experience which will make the transition easier for them at Sandown. From a team perspective we’re really looking forward to having the two guys join the team,” R-Tek team owner and F3 chairman Ian Richards said.

“The Formula 3 Australian Drivers’ Championship has been working hard this year to increase our penetration in the Asian market and the response we have had for Sandown is remarkable. People are seeing Australian Formula 3 as a cost-effective and competitive way to go Formula 3 racing and the Sandown grid will be proof of that.”

The Sandown F3 SuperPrix grid will now feature seven non-Australian drivers, hailing from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Indonesia and China.

The international interest generated in the participation of the young overseas stars has extended to major Chinese broadcaster CCTV 5 showing an interest in covering the event, and the progress of their two countrymen.

The final round of the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship will also feature an epic showdown between Tim Macrow and Joey Foster for the CAMS Gold Star award and the Australian Drivers’ Championship title.

For Macrow, it will be an opportunity to secure a second Gold Star whilst Foster seeks his first crown and back-to-back titles for Team BRM.

The Sandown F3 SuperPrix will be held over 22-laps of Sandown Raceway in Melbourne on Sunday, November 29th, in a programme that also features a 12-lap sprint and a Formula 1-style Knockout qualifying session on Saturday.

For more information about the Formula 3 Australian Drivers’ Championship please visit www.formula3.com.au

Haryanto, from Central Java in Indonesia, raced a National Class Dallara at Queensland Raceway in August this year but will step into outright contention at the Melbourne circuit, set to take to the wheel of an Astuti Motorsport F307 Dallara.

Already crowned the Formula BMW Pacific champion (with one round to spare), Haryanto will join drivers from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom as outright contenders for Formula 3s toughest race of the year – an event that will double as a title showdown between Tim Macrow and Joey Foster.

Haryanto will drive the Astuti chassis driven to a race win last year at Oran Park by James Winslow.

The youngster has dominated proceedings in the competitive Formula BMW Asia championship this year and will finish that particular campaign one week before the Sandown event, at the Macau Grand Prix.

“It is fantastic that the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship can attract a champion driver from Asia like Rio,” Astuti Motorsport team owner Sam Astuti said.

“It shows the progress the series is making and the reputation it now has internationally. The field at Sandown will be first-class and we can’t wait for what should be a fantastic SuperPrix race.”

Driving a PHR Scuderia F304 Dallara, Haryanto scored a National Class pole position at Queensland Raceway and finished just behind class champion Tom Tweedie in the first race.

“As a team we were impressed with Rio’s performances at Queensland in the National Class car,” Astuti said.

“By the end of the weekend he was just as fast as the class benchmark and not far off the outright cars too. We are looking forward to seeing what he can do in the outright car at Sandown and I would say, based on his pace and successes in Asia so far this year, he will be very competitive.”

Haryanto will be a team-mate to Sydney driver Mat Sofi, his #2 AmPro Tools Dallara also prepared out of the Astuti Motorsport stable, giving the team two cars for the first time this season.

The Sandown F3 SuperPrix will be contested between November 27 – 29, alongside the final round of the 2009 Shannons Nationals.

For more information about the Formula 3 Australian Drivers’ Championship please visit www.formula3.com.au

Photo by F3A / Klynsmith Image

Foster, a six-time race winner in Australia with Team BRM this season, returned to the German series in a one-event deal with his former team (HS Technik Motorsport) and again showed the pace that, in 2006, saw him lead the German series before a massive crash ended his year and put him in hospital with a broken back.

Foster has since orchestrated a stunning return to ‘wings and slicks’ racing in Australia this year, set to enter the final round of the 2009 F3 Australian Drivers Championship just a handful of points behind Tim Macrow in a thrilling title showdown at Sandown this November.

Foster qualified eighth and fifth for the two races, respectively, at the weekend and made further ground when the green flag dropped despite not having seen the technical Sachsenring circuit before his arrival on Thursday.

In race one he took his Dallara F307 – Mercedes entry to a strong fourth place finish, after starting eighth. Joey also set the fourth-fastest lap of the race, shadowing his HS Technik teammate Harald Schlegelmilch to the finish.

In race two he finished fifth, the same position he started, again proving him a team player as he ably backed up his teammate who finished one position ahead in fourth.

Fosters’ performance in the competitive German Formula 3 Championship – which runs similar specification cars to the local series – has served as further proof of how competitive the Australian product really is.

That Foster could return to the German F3 series after a three-year absence, learn a new circuit and yet still finish inside the top five against a competitive grid shows the speed he has used all season in Australia is competitive on a world level.

The German series is one of the strongest domestic series’ in Europe and lists past champions including Nick Heidfeld, Michael Schumacher, Tom Kristensen and Jarno Trulli, amongst others.

When Joey contested the 2006 season he was leading drivers the likes of new GP2 champion Nico Hulkenberg and A1GP frontrunner Ho-Pin Tung prior to his unfortunate accident.

Despite smaller grids this season, Fosters European-spec pace has this year been locally matched by the likes of Macrow, Mat Sofi, Ben Crighton and Tom Tweedie, showing that the Aussie field lacks nothing for pace and competition in comparison to European series’.

That will be shown at Sandown this November when Foster and Macrow will go head-to-head for the Gold Star in the 2009 championship showdown.
For more information about the F3 Australian Drivers’ Championship, head to www.formula3.com.au

15-year-old Rhys Newman, from Adelaide, completed 50 laps of the 2.6km Mallala circuit with the experienced R-Tek motorsport team that has helped fellow young drivers Jesse Wakeman and Roger I’Anson perform well this season.

Earlier this year, Newman was the first driver to be granted a CAMS competition license following the change in regulations allowing younger drivers to take to the track, and has since been racing with strong results in the competitive South Australian Formula Vee state title and the Shannons Nationals series.

The former Karting champion showed his promise by scoring pole position and winning just his second-ever Formula Vee race at Mallala, sitting in equal first place in the National series and third in the SA titles.

The affable youngster has support and backing from Australian Open Wheel legends John Walker – the 1979 Gold Star champion – and Martin Sampson, who supported Walkers’ racing via his Magnum Wheels business.

In supporting Newman this year the pair have reunited 30 years after their combined success in the 1979 Australian Drivers Championship and Australian Grand Prix, in the era of the 500-horsepower F5000 cars.

Walker was present for Newman’s Mallala test, bringing him full circle with the latest and greatest Gold Star machinery and giving the young South Australian driver invaluable experience on which to draw as he forges his own driving career.

By all accounts, Newman acquitted himself well in his first test of a Formula 3 car that requires a vastly different driving style to his 1200cc Formula Vee.

“I’m really grateful to Ian Richards and the R-Tek team for the opportunity to drive one of their cars,” Newman said.

“There was a lot to take in but the team was fantastic and great to work with. Being able to test this car will give us the basis for our decisions for where we will race next season.”

Experience team owner and former open-wheel champion Richards, who amongst other successes engineered Karl Reindler to the 2004 Australian Formula 3 Championship, said that Rhys showed his potential during the brief introductory test.

“The young lad put in a very good performance, followed instructions he was given and that’s all we can ask,” Richards said.

“At 15, he’s the youngest Australian to have tested a Formula 3 car so to put in the performance he did was excellent.

“Jumping into one of these cars is a huge leap from what he has been driving and with the exception of one minor ‘off’ he handled the car, the team environment and himself very well. It’s obvious that he has built a solid foundation of skills over many years of racing in Karting and now in Formula Vee, and he put them to excellent use during the test.

“He has a lot of potential and I’d like nothing more than to keep working with him.”

Newman will be back in action at Mallala this weekend (September 12-13) competing in the South Australian state titles, whilst the Formula 3 Australian Drivers’ Championship is in the midst of a two-month break prior to the season finale at Sandown on November 27-29.

For more information head to www.formula3.com.au

Photo by Richard Craill

Team Tom / Battery World supported driver Tom Tweedie has found himself closer than ever before in his quest to challenge the outright cars contesting the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship.

Racing a Formula 3 car for the first ever time at the challenging Oran Park Raceway, the 20-year-old from Sydney’s Northern suburbs was at his most impressive best as he came within mere fractions of the leading, latest-spec cars throughout the weekend.

After Tom clinched the National Class title at Queensland a week ago, Oran Park proved an ideal opportunity for Tom and the Battery World team to chase the Gold Star cars with no pressure to score class points.

He was inside the top four in the first qualifying session before a few cars were able to better his time – by fitting their dry tyres on a rapidly drying track – setting him into 6th place on the race one grid.

But it was qualifying two where Tweedie showed what he was truly capable of. On a dry track, on brand new rubber saved from the first session and in perfect conditions, Tom qualified fourth outright but less than three-tenths of a second from pole position – and ahead of the then joint championship leader, Joey Foster.

Sadly Tom’s F3ADC first race at Oran Park lasted little more than 500 meters after the #19 car was involved in a turn two shunt when Roger I’Anson and Ben Crighton came together whilst fighting for position.

Tweedie was left stranded in the sand trap and out of the race, but he made amends for that disappointment in race two as he scored his second career outright race podium in the shortened 12-lap affair.

Tom crossed the line in third place, behind only Mat Sofi and winner Tim Macrow, to replicate his top three finish scored at the Clipsal 500 earlier this year.

The result ensured that Tom was able to spray the champagne on the podium in the last ever Gold star race to be held at the historic circuit before its unfortunate conversion into a housing estate in 2010.

“It was such a good feeling to get onto the outright podium in race two,” Tweedie said.

“After we did it at Clipsal at the start of the season we were keen to do it again so this is a great way to end my first, and only, ever Formula 3 race at Oran Park. Our race pace was within a few tenths of the leaders cars so we couldn’t have asked for more – it was a great result!”

Tweedie said that the events earlier in the weekend had made it a challenging F3 debut at the 2.8km circuit.

“The light shower before qualifying one really through a wild card into the mix,” he explained.

“I chose to go out on wets and it definitely looked like they were the right choice on the drying track; I was looking solid in 3rd or 4th outright until the sun dried the track in the last 5 mins, allowing a couple of cars on slicks to out-qualify me. That put me 6th on the grid.

“Qualifying two was excellent though. After the dry laps we did on Friday the team and I worked out some changes to the car that were fantastic! Qualifying a few tenths off the outright pole was awesome – Qualifying in front of Foster, who was sharing the lead in the series, was even more unexpected.

“We had a lot of people from Battery World at the track at the weekend, as well as plenty of ‘Team Tom’ members,” Tweedie added.

“I can’t thank them enough for their support and I’m sure they left the track as happy as I was. Next year is looking fantastic!”

Tom Tweedie and the Battery World / Team Tom / Tizzana Vineyards Dallara will next be in action at the final round of the 2009 Formula 3 Australian Driver’s Championship for the CAMS Gold Star, to be held at Melbourne’s Sandown Raceway between November 27 – 29.

For more information head to www.tomtweedie.com

Tim Macrow has clearly learned from the Joey Foster book of qualifying tricks.

At the Clipsal 500 this year, Foster snared a last-ditch pole position over Macrow well after the checkered flag had fallen on the second session with a perfectly timed flyer.

Today, at Oran Park Raceway, Tim Macrow returned the favor in qualifying for race 13 of the 2009 Formula 3 Australian Driver’s championship for the CAMS Gold Star, taking pole position number seven for the season by just overhauling Foster after the session had finished.

Later in the afternoon Mathew Sofi, who lives just five minutes from the track in Rossmore, took his first ever Formula 3 pole position in one of the closest sessions of the year.

After an early shower fell just before qualifying one, Foster had shown his superiority in greasy conditions during most of the session and held the top spot when the flag fell, but Macrow had just snuck though to begin a last-ditch flyer with one second remaining in the session.

One minute, three seconds and a few hundredths later, the #25 car jumped to the top of the charts just 0.04s faster than the his championship rival in one of the most dramatic qualifying sessions ever staged at Oran Park.

The bonus point Macrow scored also elevated him to the championship lead for the first time this season, with just this and one more round (at Sandown) remaining.

Later in the day Sofi took his AmPro Dallara to the best time half-way through qualifying for race 14 and then watched as almost everyone else chipped away at his best time.

Macrow came close – within 0.3s, in fact – but not close enough to deny Sofi his career first pole position.

In the closest session of the year the top five cars were covered by just 0.2s, and the top six by just 0.5s as the stage was set for a highly competitive Gold Star finale’ at Oran Park.

“I’m really happy, it’s a great result and nice to finally get that pole position in the bag,” Sofi said this afternoon.

“The track changed a lot between sessions, it was a lot slower than the first session and we didn’t change the car and went slower – but it was enough.

“The others were closing in but I got one last good lap and did just enough to get the pole position. It’s a good result and now we need to go on with it tomorrow and get another race win or two.”

Macrow said that the small margin between the two reflected the intensity of their title fight this season.

“It’s certainly close,” he said after pipping his rival by 0.04s in qualifying one.

“It’s been close all year, its close now and I’m sure it’ll be close to the end of the year. It’s a great fight and every point will help at this stage of the year. I’m pretty pleased but there’s a long way to go and this place is tough.”

Fosters performance in qualifying one will please both him and his BRM outfit after they came away from Friday practice dissapointed with their pace.

Ben Crighton will start third for both races in his TanderSport Dallara after topping a session in practice, yesterday.

Roger I’Anson stunned the establishment by topping the National Class after actually earlier topping the session outright as the circuit was drying. He beat Tom Tweedie and Chris Gilmour to stage a fascinating battle in F3’s ‘race within a race’ this weekend.

Tom Tweedie returned serve in race two to take the National Class Pole position and take a career-best fourth outright on the grid in the process.

Chris Gilmour was third in class on both occasions ahead of a close class battle between Bevan Carrick, Graeme Holmes and Maher Algadri. Peter Kalpakiotis got the points in the National ‘B’ class in his Scud Racing F301.

For more information and full results head to www.formula3.com.au

Photo by F3A / Nathan Wong

The 46-year old tradition of Australia’s fastest racing cars visiting Oran Park raceway will come to a close this weekend following the running of round six of the 2009 Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship for the CAMS Gold Star.

Powerful ‘wings and slicks’ racing cars have become an annual feature on the Oran Park racing schedule and the track has had its hand in making and breaking the careers of many big names within the sport.

Like the drivers, the categories representing the Gold Star have come and gone with the past five seasons having witnessed the fully international cars from Formula 3 fight out for Australia’s premier open-wheel award, as will again be the case this year.

In the past categories like Formula Libre, Formula 5000, Formula Mondial, Formulae’s Brabham, Holden and F4000 and Formula Two have all featured at the circuit and have thrilled fans with top-level ‘wings and slicks’ racing.

But the one constant is that Oran Park and Wings and Slicks Open Wheelers go hand-in-hand – just ask those that have driven the 2.8km Grand Prix circuit in one for proof.

The challenging, undulating layout has always been synonymous with the Gold Star.  Its combination of slow, medium and high speed corners brings out the best attributes in Open Wheel cars as it has done since the track was opened in 1962, during the era of open wheel greats like Bib Stilwell, Spencer Martin and Lex Davison.

This weekend names of the future like Joey Foster, Tim Macrow, Mat Sofi, Ben Crighton and Tom Tweedie, amongst others, will be completing the Gold Star chapter in Oran Park’s history book.

Oran Park has been more than just a challenging circuit and a test of a driver’s ability – it has also defined the careers of two particular drivers who have secured the highest award in Australian motorsport at the circuit.

2006 V8 Supercar Champion Rick Kelly clinched his first major title at Oran Park in 2001, when he powered a Birrana Racing Formula Holden to two commanding race wins that gave him enough points to seal the Gold Star with two rounds remaining.

Kelly, now driving a Jack Daniel’s Holden Commodore in the V8 Supercars, says that Oran Park brings fond memories of his early days racing in the ADC.

“It does bring back memories,” Said Rick.

“That year in the Australian Driver’s Championship was very enjoyable. It’s the quickest form of racing that I’ve ever driven and it’s sad that this weekend will be its last race meeting.

“It’s such a flowing track that was a lot of fun. There are a lot of corners and there are some bumpy areas which are a little bit hairy in one of those cars – but it’s got some great corners like the dogleg that are just a lot of fun.”

Kelly continues to have high praise for the circuit despite the V8s having farewelled it last year.

“It’s one of the best tracks in Australia and I’d love to see another track like it,” he said. “If it had a resurface I think it would be the best track in Australia, excluding Bathurst.”

Six years later, another young Victorian driver won his first Gold Star at Oran Park in one of the most dramatic season finale’s in all of Australian Motorsport.

After three years of trying, Tim Macrow won the 2007 Australian Formula 3 Championship for the CAMS Gold Star when he triumphed in a three-way fight with Leanne Tander and British driver Charlie Hollings.

The lead in the championship changed hands between all three of the drivers over the course of the weekend and it was only a sensational start in the second and final race of the weekend managed to leap Macrow from fourth to the lead of the race.

He then withheld 15 laps of massive pressure to win the race and the title in the most dramatic fashion possible.

“That was the best start of my career and that weekend as a whole was pretty incredible,” Said Macrow, who co-leads this year’s title in a close battle with British driver Joey Foster.

“I crashed in the rain on Friday and then only qualified fourth for race two so that made things difficult, but we were able to come through at the start and win. It’s certainly one of the reasons why Oran Park has plenty of good memories for me.

“In 2006 I won both races there so I’ve had a lot of success there and it means a lot to have been able to do that at a track with so much history within the Australian Driver’s Championship.”

Oran Park also has personal history for Macrow, his surname featuring regularly on the circuits honour roll with two generations of the well-known racing family having won at the circuit.

“My dad (Peter Macrow) raced there and had a lot of success in the 1970s and my brother (Adam) won a race here during his title year in the Fujitsu V8s – so we have a lot of personal history at the place,” he said.

“It will be sad to see it go this weekend but it’s great that Joey (Foster) and I are fighting so hard for the Gold Star this year. It’s appropriate that we should be so close coming into the final round at Oran Park and hopefully we can put on a couple of exciting races this weekend to cap off the Gold Stars history at the track.”

Macrow and Foster are currently tied for the lead of the Formula 3 Australian Driver’s Championship after Macrow was able to win both races at Queensland Raceway last weekend.

Oran Park is the penultimate round of the 2009 Gold Star and as such looks likely to form a crucial part to the title hopes of drivers’ racing in this year’s championship as it has done so often in the past.

The 2009 Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship field will tackle two, 15-lap races on Sunday as part of the big Shannons Nationals event that is the final ever National-level race meeting at Oran Park.

The Formula 3 Gold Star era has produced its fair share of sensational races at Oran Park, and also plenty of history – for instance, Leanne Tander became the first female driver in the history of the Australian Drivers Championship to score a pole position, when she topped qualifying one at Oran Park on October 28, 2006, during the Gold Star’s 50th anniversary year.

Race winners in the ‘f3 era’ include Tander, British drivers James Winslow and Charile Hollings and, of course, Macrow.

As the fastest cars in the country, naturally the Australian Driver’s Championship holds Oran Park’s outright lap record.

It was set in 2000 by Orange, NSW, driver Tim Leahey driving a Reynard 92D Formula Holden and stands to this day at 1m01.6718s.

The lap record for the less-powerful Formula 3 cars that now make up the Gold Star category is 1m03.9747, set by Michael Caruso, driving a Dallara F301 – Fiat, in July 2003.

For more information head to www.formula3.com.au

Photo by F3A / Klynsmith Image

AmPro Racing driver Mat Sofi has salvaged a podium finish in round six of the Formula 3 Australian Driver’s Championship despite a horror weekend littered with limited track time and a series of unfortunate events that were out of his control.

Sofi, driving the #2 AmPro Tools / Errea / Transwest Dallara F307 from Astuti Motorsport, still managed to extend his lead in third place over Ben Crighton after dicing with the New Zealander in both of the two, 12-lap races at the weekend.

The challenging weekend began early when Sofi’s car suffered fuel surge issues, the Astuti team putting in what would be the first of two long nights work to completely replace the fuel system before qualifying on Saturday.

The problem left Sofi with just one session of practice complete and with limited track time ahead of the all-important qualifying.

After qualifying third for race one, Sofi then again set a third-placed effort in qualifying two before a rear suspension pickup point broke on the gearbox of the AmPro Dallara, spearing Sofi off into the sand trap at the high-speed turn one.

Though the car was mainly undamaged, the gearbox needed replacing and after sourcing a borrowed unit from Team BRM, the team was at the circuit until 3AM Sunday morning swapping over the components from the original to the replacement.

The effort paid off, however, Sofi battling with Ben Crighton in a stunning race one dice that often saw the pair side-by-side for third place, the Kiwi only just taking the advantage at the line.

The results were reversed in race two, however, as Sofi took advantage of Ben running wide at turn four to make the pass and score his 11th career podium finish and seventh for the season.

A small win for the team was that Sofi scored the bonus point for setting race’s fastest lap on the 9th of 12 tours, the fourth in his F3 career.

The mood after the race, however, was one of mixed emotions – whilst pleased with the race three result and speed both team and driver knew that the Queensland round was very much a case of ‘what could have been’.

“It is very frustrating because after the test last week we knew that we would be fast here,” Sofi explained.
“Unfortunately we missed so much track time with problems outside of our control that we weren’t able to keep up with how the track was changing, and make changes to the setup accordingly – that set us back and we only really got back to a level playing field by race two on Sunday.

“But it’s still maintained our championship position and the battles with Ben in both races were excellent – there are always positives. We’re looking forward to taking the AmPro car to Oran Park this week to test and then for the big finale’ there this weekend – it should be great.”

Astuti Motorsport and Mat Sofi would like to extend their thanks to Team BRM for the loan of the gearbox that saw them through the weekend and to Ash and Neil from TanderSport for assisting in the rebuild on Saturday night.

“Their help was amazing, without that it would have placed us in a lot of trouble for Saturday,” Sofi said.
“It shows that despite the fact we are all pushing hard to win races, there is a lot of camaraderie in this championship which is fantastic.”

The next round of the Formula 3 Australian Driver’s Championship will be held at Oran Park, NSW, this weekend (Aug 28 – 30).

For more information head to www.mathewsofi.com

Photo by Dirk Klynsmith / F3A.

Tom Tweedie wrapped up the Formula 3 Australian Driver’s Championship National Class title at Queensland raceway and beat the strongest class field of the year in the process.

The performance again confirmed why 20-year-old Tweedie is one of the rising young stars of Australian Motorsport, wrapping up the title after just six rounds and continuing to mix it with the later-model cars racing for the Gold Star.

Tweedie scored his ninth and tenth class victories of the season and finished inside the outright top five on two occasions, despite facing the deepest grid of the year intent on unsettling the proven 2009 pacesetter in F304 cars, F3’s ‘race within a race’.

Revelling in the challenge that saw four cars covered by less than three-tenths in qualifying two, Tweedie outlasted and outplayed his rivals to end up with two class wins driving his #19 Team Tom / Battery World / Tizzana Vineyards Dallara F304 – Renault.

The results at the weekend, racing in front of a three-day crowd of nearly 50,000, mean that Tweedie and his small family-run team can now spend the remaining two rounds focussing solely on knocking off some of the leading championship cars fighting for the Gold Star – something they have already achieved on more than one occasion this year.

“The weekend was fantastic!” Tweedie beamed.

“To be crowned National Class Champion for 2009 with two rounds to go is a huge credit to everyone at Team Tom – and there was no better way to do it than winning the class in both races at the weekend.

“I knew before we raced that we would be up against some tough competition, especially with Chris Gilmour returning and Rio Haryanto joining the series from Asia, so this is a great result and it’s very satisfying to have that kind of competition and still come out on top.”

Race one was the most competitive of the 2009 season to date, with a pitched battle for not only the outright lead but for the National class as well.

“I got a good start in race one and was forced to tuck in behind Gilmour at turn two,” Tweedie explained.

“From there I had to keep the pressure on and took an opportunity to pass Chris at the last corner of the last lap – I just managed to pull the car up and get around turn six without losing the place back again.

“Race two was also good – Rio got the start but I was able to get past when he served a drive through penalty. So after that I could see the TanderSport F307 ahead of me make some mistakes so I tried to close the gap down before the end of the race.

“I think reliability and mistake-free races are what have made my season so good. Thanks again to Battery World – their support has definitely helped us win the National Class title and I looking forward to next week at Oran Park, where hopefully we can continue the success!”

Team Tom and the Battery World Dallara will now face a quick, four-day turnaround before contesting the penultimate round of the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship for the CAMS Gold Star award at Sydney’s Oran Park Raceway this coming weekend.

Tom Tweedie is supported by Battery World, Tizzana Vineyards and the Team Tom Membership.

For more information head to www.tomtweedie.com

Photo by Dirk Klynsmith

Second generation driver Roger I’Anson seems to like jumping into the deep end.

After all, he confirmed today that he will make his debut in the Formula 3 Australian Driver’s Championship for the CAMS Gold Star at Queensland Raceway next week against the strongest and largest F3 grid for the season.

And then he’ll rebound the following week at Oran Park against a grid that is hoped will be even stronger again.

It’s a big way to make a big splash on debut in Australia’s quickest cars – but it looks like the South Australian driver has what it takes.

I’Anson, 20, will drive the #7 R-Tek Motorsport Dallara F303 Spiess chassis in the F3 National Class after original R-Tek driver Jesse Wakeman was forced to withdraw after the most recent round due to a sponsorship shortfall.

I’anson’s father, Ken, was a strong Sports Sedan competitor during his racing days and their family’s knack for driving quickly has clearly been passed on; Roger showing strong performances across a series of state level Formula Ford campaigns, both in South Australia and interstate, recently.

The South Aussie youngster from the Riverland township of Berri will graduate to ‘Wings and Slicks’ racing next week after an introductory test with Team BRM earlier this year was followed by a strong 70-lap run at Mallala today driving the R-Tek Machine.

I’Anson will be sponsored by Gawler Farm Machinery and Ken’s Exhaust Systems, Berri.

“I’m really excited about joining R-Tek Motorsport and the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship for the next two rounds,” I’Anson said.

“It’s a great category – it is clearly the best option for young drivers who want to go somewhere in their careers. It’s so much more affordable than going overseas and I can’t wait to join it.

“It sounds like the second half of the year is shaping up to be even more competitive so it will be a good challenge. I’m hoping to go well.

“The test day was good. It was all about getting me comfortable in the car ahead of going to Queensland and I think we achieved that. It’s a big learning experience but I think things are going well so far so I’m looking forward to getting up there and racing next week.

“We will be doing the test day at Oran Park prior to the round which will give me a good leg up for that track, which is very technical,” I’Anson added.

“I’m looking forward to racing and am thankful to Ian Richards from R-Tek and James Rosenberg from Gawler Farm Machinery for putting the deal together.”

I’Anson will contest the sixth and seventh rounds of the Formula 3 Australian Drivers championship, the two rounds critical to the championship fight this year. The Queensland hit out will mark the series’ first visit to the Ipswich circuit since 2006 and the first with the current-specification, F307-spec Dallara cars that have smashed outright and F3 lap records around Australia.

A strong contingent of local drivers will feature against the best of this year’s F3ADC with two races to be held Sunday in support of the V8 supercar event.

The championship will then return to the Shannons Nationals the following week for the final ever National Championship event to be held at the iconic Oran Park circuit, near Narellan, in Sydney’s South Western Suburbs.

For more information head to www.formula3.com.au

Photo by F3A