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Natoli Falls Just Short of Another ATCC Podium Result |
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Sunday, 06 May 2007 |
The climb of Daniel Natoli in the 2007 Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) championship continued last weekend (April 28 – 29) at Winton Motor Raceway (Benalla, VIC) when he once again claimed top honours in the Super Tourers class and just missed out on an outright podium result after finishing fourth in the third round running of proceedings.
At the completion of the third round, Natoli is now sitting seventh in the overall ATCC championship point standings and is on track to move towards his goal for 2007, a top three result, and feels that consistency is going to play a big part in achieving that success.
“My fourth place finish at Winton Motor Raceway proved how important
being consistent is, and that is my motto for the whole year, and so
far, despite the problems in the opening round, everything is going to
plan,” said an upbeat Natoli.
“The aim is to finish all our races, and over the weekend we did just
that, and ended up fourth overall, and the speed we showed in both race
one and two in the wet weather conditions was very strong, and the
third race I feel the handicapping was far too great for my speed, but
you have to take the good with the bad.”
In his third appearance in the Mumbo Racing owned and prepared Ford
Mondeo Super Tourer, Natoli made his first visit to the 3km Winton
Motor Raceway circuit since the Lotus Trophy Series of 2004 and with
prior circuit knowledge there was no need to learn the circuit, but
dial the car in. After qualifying in eighth place, Natoli showed strong
form in both race one and two under the wet weather conditions by
finishing fourth and third, and he finished off the weekend with a
ninth place finish in the third and final race which was held in dry
conditions.
The fourth round of the ATCC is something Natoli is looking forward to
considering that is to be held at his home circuit of Queensland
Raceway (Ipswich, QLD) on June 16 – 17 where he is hoping to repeat
last year’s ATCC round performance which saw him score victory in race
two on the way to a third place finish for the round.
Natoli would like to say a big thanks to Rod Dale and his Mumbo Racing
team for all their efforts over the weekend, along with his 2007
sponsors: CEILITE, Oz Motor Transport, Lewis Fire Protection, Empire
Trade Exchange, Richo’s Car Carrying, www.ozmotorsport.com.au, Coast
Wide Online Printing, Ignition Magazine, and Kumho Tyres.
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