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Trimble Back in the Best Way With Mallala Pole Pair |
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Tuesday, 03 July 2007 |
He may have had eight months out of an Open Wheeler but Michael Trimble returned right back to the top of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship after taking a pair of spectacular pole positions at Adelaide’s Mallala raceway today.
After stepping into a Carrera Cup car this season, Trimble made the most of an invite from his old Astuti Motorsport team to get back behind the wheel of a Formula 3 car this weekend to take the top spot for both races tomorrow driving the #10 Lista Workplace solutions Dallara.
He asserted himself at the top of the standings in qualifying one by a
little over one tenth, whilst in the second session a last-ditch lap
saw him steal the top spot from old rival Tim Macrow, by just .07s.
It was Michael Trimble’s fourth and fifth career Formula 3 poles, delighting the 22-year-old Victorian.
”I’m here to do a job this weekend for Sam (Astuti, team owner), and
I’m pleased that I have been able to do it so far.” He enthused.
”It’s always nice to be fastest. It was tricky to adjust to the Formula
3 car after driving the Porsche all season but on Thursday and Friday I
got the idea of it again and today, on new rubber, I got the times.
”It feels great,” he added. “The car is perfect.”
Second both times today was current championship leader Tim Macrow, who
used his first ever pre-event Formula 3 test day to his advantage to
reassert his position after a tough round at Phillip Island recently.
Macrow held pole for a majority of today’s second session before Trimble bumped him off with just a few minutes to go.
”I’m not totally worried, it’s very close,” Macrow said.
”I think we have a good race car. We can set our times early in the
session so I think that if we can beat them off the line we can get a
gap and go from there.
”We are in front of the championship rivals which is the important thing.” He said.
The Brits filled the second rows both days today – Charlie Hollings
(#11 Shell Racing Solutions) ahead of James Winslow (#27 Team Opes
Prime) in qualifying one with the situation reversed in the second
session.
Both were less than three tenths from pole in both sessions giving them hope for tomorrow.
Fellow outright contenders Leanne Tander, Marco Mapelli, Mat Sofi and
Stuart Kostera had indifferent days, Tander and Mapelli both struggling
with setup as they set drastically slower times than they had in
practice and pre-event testing.
A close battle is raging in the Kumho National Class for ’99 – ’01
model cars between a strong group of cars – Daniel Schulz (#57
CERASport Dallara F301) and Chris Barry (#6 Data #3 Dallara F301)
splitting the honours today.
South Australian local driver Jesse Wakeman showed consistent
improvement today in his Formula 3 debut, qualifying third in his class
in the second session today.
Tomorrow’s two, 18-lap races will make up round four of the Kumho Tyres
Australian Formula 3 Championship will be contested at 9:55am and 13:15
pm, respectively.
For more information head to www.formula3.com.au
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