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Nathan Caratti joins Opes Prime Team BRM for 2008 Championship Campaign |
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Friday, 18 January 2008 |
Opes Prime Team BRM is pleased
to confirm that young West Australian driver Nathan Caratti will join the team
for the 2008 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship for the CAMS Gold
Star.
He will drive one of the teams’ Opes Prime Dallara F307 – Mercedes
Benz chassis after testing at Mallala Raceway near Adelaide recently
Caratti, 22, is the younger brother to 2005 Australian F3 champion Aaron Caratti
and has a wealth of experience in open wheel racing despite his young age.
Since 2004 he has raced in the Australian Formula Ford Championship,
finishing 7th in the series in both 2005 and 2006 – scoring five podiums and
eight top five finishes in his final year. He has also twice raced in the
prestigious Formula Ford Festival in the UK and in 2005 started four races in
the Australian Formula 3 Championship.
Last year stepped up to wings and
slicks cars in Formula Renault, basing himself in London.
Caratti
rounded off his debut Formula Renault season in the UK with several top finishes
before electing to return home to compete for the $80,000 cash prize, or the
chance to negotiate a fully-funded Formula V6 Asia drive, that the champion of
this years F3 series can win thanks to Opes Prime.
After his initial
two-day test at Mallala, Caratti will join the team for several days of
pre-season testing at Eastern Creek in the lead-up to the opening round at the
Australian A1GP World Cup of Motorsport round between February 1 –
3.
“I’ve got plenty of experience in Open Wheelers so it was a choice of
either staying in Formula Renault in the UK, or coming home to step into F3 –
which was the decision we made in the end,” Nathan Caratti said.
“I’m
very happy to be joining Team BRM – they have won a lot of championships and
have been very successful.
”There is not a lot of difference between the
Renault and the F3 car – the F3 just has a bit more power and a bit more grip
but the driving style is the same. I’m confident that I’ll be able to go out and
do the job from the first round.”
Caratti said he was looking forward to
the first round, but noted that the second round in Adelaide was also a
tantalising prospect.
”I’ve raced at the Clipsal 500 twice in Formula
Ford and It’s great to race in front of a crowd,” he enthused.
”There
won’t be too many other drivers in the field this year that have been around
there so that will hopefully be a good weekend for us.”
”We are thrilled
that Nathan will be joining us for what is shaping up to be the most competitive
year for F3 and Opes Prime Team BRM yet,” team manager Mark Rundle
said.
”Nathan’s pace and feedback when he tested for us at Mallala last
week was excellent. He has a lot of Open Wheel experience thanks to his miles in
Formula Ford and Formula Renault so there is no reason not to expect him to be a
championship contender this season.
”It’s great to see some young
Australian talent joining F3 and we are very excited to work with Nathan this
season.” He said.
Opes Prime Team BRM have won three Australian Formula
3 Championships, in 2002, 2004 and 2006 and will this year run four cars in the
series in an effort to regain the crown for the fourth time.
Caratti
joins Opes Prime National Class driver Lee Farrell as confirmed Team BRM drivers
for 2008, with the two remaining drivers set to be announced shortly.
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