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Leanne Tander, Tim Macrow and Charlie Hollings to fight out Australian Drivers Championship |
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Tuesday, 30 October 2007 |
Should a book
detailing the history of the Australian Drivers Championship be
written in the next few years, the author will need to be sure that
plenty of pages are left to record the incredible tug of war that
has been the 51st Gold Star season - 2007.
The battle to
decide the winner of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3
Championship will be decided at Oran Park raceway this weekend after
the most competitive F3 season in Australia on record, and the most
competitive fight for the ADC in many years.
Three drivers –
Leanne Tander, Tim Macrow and Charlie Hollings – will be the
contenders in a title fight that has been wide open since the first
race of the season eight months ago.
Over the course of 14
races, seven different drivers have experienced that winning feeling
whilst ten have stood on the podium
Six drivers have scored
pole positions, eight have set the fastest race lap and four drivers
have remained in contention for the title all season long.
Although based & licensed in Australia, drivers
originating from four different countries have stood on the podium
whilst, in an Australian first, both male and female drivers will
race for the chance to call themselves a champion of Formula 3 and a
Gold Star winner.
 That lone female – Fleetcare TanderSport
driver Leanne Tander – currently leads the championship and can
create history in her state of birth by becoming the first woman to
ever win a major National circuit racing championship in Australia.
Victorian Tim Macrow (Cooltemp / Scud Racing) and
Yorkshire’s Charlie Hollings (Astuti Motorsport) trail Leanne by
just four and seven points, respectively, meaning any can win the
championship by winning both races at the 2.8km-long undulating
circuit fifty minutes from Sydney’s CBD.
Macrow will be keen
to improve on his second place in last years championship whilst
Hollings will be keen to follow in the footsteps of countryman Ben
Clucas who won the championship last year.
Any of the three
drivers who wins’ both races in Sydney will basically be assured the
championship; however the odds are stacked against such a feat.
 Only one driver – Charlie Hollings – has managed to ‘do the
double’ this season, when he – ominously for his rivals - won both
races at Oran Park in early May this year.
Macrow and
Hollings have each won three races this year, whilst Tander has won
two.
Hollings has the edge when it comes to qualifying,
having scored four pole positions to the two racked up by Tander and
the sole top spot scored by Macrow.
This years’ championship
has been a battle that has ebbed-and flowed across Australia, with
the lead changing regularly between rounds, and even between races
at each event.
As it is just seven points split the three
with any driver able to win the championship should they win at Oran
Park – setting up a true ‘winner take all’ finale.
Three
drivers, however, may look to spoil the contenders’ party by playing
the wildcard role at the weekend.
Barton Mawer, Walter
Grubmuller and Chris Gilmour could all spring surprises and relegate
the battle for the championship further down the field.
Team
BRM / Opes Prime driver Barton Mawer won the Formula 3 SuperPrix in
Tasmania recently in just his second race back this season and is
always a competitive force, whilst Austrian Grubmuller returns to
the Astuti Motorsport #10 car that he raced to the podium in the
opening round of the series at Eastern Creek.
Grubmuller is
also fresh from a full year in the British F3 championship and will
be looking to translate that experience into race winning success
this weekend.
The Oran Park round will also be notable as
the final hit out for the F304 model Dallara chassis in championship
class / outright configuration, as new to Australia 2007-spec cars
will contest the Gold Star from 2008 onwards.
The next Gold
Star winner will be decided over the course of two races, this
Sunday, November 4, as part of the Shannons Nationals event
featuring the Biodiesel Supertrucks at Oran Park Raceway.
For more information head to www.formula3.com.au
Championship Points: 1. Leanne
Tander (176), 2. Tim Macrow (172), 3. Charlie Hollings (169)
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