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Clucas Wins In Caterham's, Team BRM Strong In FFord At Mallala |
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Tuesday, 26 September 2006 |
Team BRM driver Ben Clucas – the winner of the 2006 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship
for the CAMS Gold Star – has continued his sparkling 2006 form by
posting a winning performance in a recent round of the British Caterham
championship.
Held on the Silverstone International Circuit, Clucas scored a win and
a second-place finish on his return to the one-make series for cars
from the iconic British carmaker – the open top sports cars based
loosely on the iconic Lotus 7.
After winning the first race from his teammate – a championship
contender – Clucas finished second in the final contest in a sporting
gesture to ensure that his teammate would secure the championship win.
The weekend triumph hasn’t been Ben’s only success in the Caterham’s
however, Clucas having won two races in the Caterham Eurocup at the
Nurburgring last year.
The weekend’s success at Silverstone adds to the British driver’s
remarkable season, Clucas having already won the Australian Drivers
Championship thanks to 11 wins from the 12 Australian Formula 3 races
he has contested this season with Team BRM.
Clucas also finished on the podium in the opening round of the
Australian Formula Ford Championship at the Clipsal 500 with Team BRM,
and won the New Zealand Motorsport Cup at Pukekohe driving a Formula
Toyota racecar.
Recently he has completed successful tests for a number of V8 Supercar teams, including Ford Performance Racing.
One week prior to Clucas’ success at Silverstone Team BRM returned to
the Australian Formula Ford Championship with a two-car team at Mallala
Raceway.
With young Queensland brothers John and Kain Magro behind the wheel,
the team posted a strong performance in what was just their second ever
National Formula Ford round with their pair of Van Diemen RF06 entries,
cars #20 and #21.
John qualified 13th – just 1.2 seconds from pole position – and went on
to finish the three races in 11th, 14th and 11th positions respectively.
Kain placed 15th in qualifying, just .4 from his brother, and completed
the first two races in 15th and 13th respectively, before a gearbox
drama sidelined him from the third and final event.
The pace from both drivers bodes well for their future, the team hoping
that a program to complete the final round of the Formula Ford
Championship at Phillip Island in December can be put in place to
continue their development.
“We were very happy with John and Kain’s progress at Mallala,” Team BRM Formula Ford manager Mark Rundle said.
“Given that they only have limited experience competing in a Formula
Ford car at the South Australian state level they both did very well to
get down to the times that they both posted. We’re very keen to
continue working with them in the future because I think that they both
have a heap of potential to succeed.” He said.
Team BRM owner Bronte Rundle was similarly enthusiastic about Clucas’ success at Silverstone.
“That Ben can travel 20,000 kilometers, arrive on the UK on Thursday
and then be so quick in a car that is so totally different from a
Formula 3 car or even a V8 Supercar confirms his totally adaptable
talent,” Rundle said.
”Any V8 team in Australia looking for proven and highly adaptable
talent should be locking Ben away now. He just keeps proving how proven
a talent he is in any condition, at any circuit and in any car.”
The next – and final - round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3
Championship will be held at Oran Park on October 27 – 29, whilst the
penultimate round of the Australian Formula Ford Championship will be
held at Symmons Plains, in Tasmania, in November.
For more information head to www.teambrm.com.au
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
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