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| Fast Facts about 2008 Australian Drivers Championship / F3 Kickoff |
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| Thursday, 31 January 2008 | |
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The Opening round of the 2008
Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship will be held at Eastern Creek
Raceway at the weekend, the third time that Australian F3 has been the major
support act for the World Cup of Motorsports' Australian leg.
The weekend also makes the kick-off of the 2008 (52nd) Gold Star titlefight, won
last year by Tim Macrow (pictured). The round marks several firsts, including the first run for the new Dallara's, The first appearance of the Mercedes engine and the debut of several young stars set to fight some of the more experienced hands for the Australian Drivers' Championship. Along with the entry list, here are several fast facts about the 2008 Season opener this weekend... • Eastern Creek Lap Record: 1m25.2280s set by Chris Alajajian (Dallara F304 – Renault Sodemo) on 6th November, 2005. • Big Money / Big Opportunity: The 2008 F3 championship features massive prizes and opportunity for career advancement never before seen in Australian Motorsport. - The Championship winner will receive either $80,000 cash prize, or the chance to negotiate a fully-funded drive in the 2009 Formula V6 Asia Championship, thanks to Opes Prime. - The National Class Winner will receive either $40,000 as a cash prize or the chance to negotiate a fully funded drive in the 2009 Australian F3 Championship with an Opes Prime team. • A1 Connection: Several Australian Formula 3 drivers have been called up to represent their country in the World Cup of Motorsport. Sydney’s Chris Alajajian, who has strong Lebanese family ties, has contested several rounds with A1 Team Lebanon. James Winslow, 4th in the title last year, is the current Rookie session & reserve driver for A1 Team GBR whilst F3 Alumni Ian Dyk contested several rounds of the 2007 – 08 series with A1 Team Australia. In the past drivers like Will Power, Christian Jones and Karl Reindler have also jumped from the F3 series to an A1 Team Australia seat. • New Cars: Eastern Creek marks the Australian Racing debut of the 2005 – 2007 Generation Dallara Formula 3 Chassis. The new cars feature improved safety features and more refined aerodynamics than the existing cars and as such, not only look similar to Formula 1 / GP2-style cars, but are expected to lap some two seconds / lap faster than the older F3 cars. • Of the seven, 2007-specification cars entered for the opening round, three have come from Signature Racing (France), One from Prema Power team (Italy), and one each from Carlin Motorsport and Hitech Racing (UK). There are four other cars either in the country, or en-route (including one for 2008 championship runners-up Astuti Motorsport), that are expected to compete later this season. • This order of (At minimum) 11 cars shows increased confidence and a willingness to invest by car and team owners in the series. By comparison, just five of the ’02 – ’04 cars were imported at the beginning of the 2005 season when they became eligible locally. Since then, more than 15 of that model have been imported. • New Engines: This round marks the first time that the ‘all conquering’ Mercedes Benz F3 engine races in Australia. The Merc has been the engine of choice in both British and Euro F3 of late, dominating the results throughout the past two seasons. • Brothers-in-Arms: This round marks the first time that two brothers of two former champions will start a round of the championship. Chris Reindler is brother to 2004 champion Karl, whist Nathan Caratti is brother of 2005 winner Aaron. • Youth of the Nations: The A1GP F3 Field features some of the youngest drivers to start a national-championship race in Australia, in any category. Justin Tate (Scud Racing) is just 16 years old (Turning 17 in March) whilst Kiwi Earl Bamber is 17 and Chris Reindler is just 18, 19 in April this year. • Strength in Numbers: There are more multi-car teams entered for this round of the championship than ever before. Opes Prime Team BRM (4 cars), Piccola Scuderia Corse (3), TanderSport (2), Transwest Racing (2), Scud Racing (2), R-Tek F3 (2) and Astuti Motorsport (2) have all nominated multiple drivers. • Ten years on, going strong: 2008 marks the 10th anniversary of the formation of the Australian Formula 3 Championship and the 4th since the series became recognised as Australia’s premier Open Wheel category by virtue of its status as the Australian Drivers’ Championship. • The two races to be held this weekend will be the 139th and 140th held in the history of the Australian Formula 3 Championship. This will be the 70th championship round held in the ten-year history of the championship. • There have been 25 different (outright) race winners in series history. 42 drivers have stood on the outright podium. • Only Victorian Paul Stephenson has won two titles, in 1999 and 2000 driving a Dallara F396. • 7 Different drivers won in 16 races in 2007 (A record), whilst 10 different drivers stood on the outright podium (Also a record) • Pretty Close, that: The winning margin between Champion Tim Macrow and Runner-Up Leanne Tander was two points. This is the equal-closest finish in series history, equalling the margin between 2003 champion Michael Caruso and runner-up Bart Mawer. The 2004 title (Karl Reindler to Chris Gilmour) was just three closest. • The closest race-winning margin in series history is .0032s, between Ben Clucas and Michael Trimble at Phillip Island, May 2006. • The qualifying margin between first – second on the grid has been less than one-tenth of a second in 20 of the last 32 qualifying sessions (62%). ENTRY LIST Kumho Tyres Australian Drivers Championship 2 Transwest Racing Mathew Sofi NSW Dallara F307 Mugen Honda Orange 3 Opes Prime Team BRM James Winslow Dallara F307 Mercedes Benz Black / Bronze 4 Opes Prime Team BRM Earl Bamber NZL Dallara F307 Mercedes Benz Black / Silver 5 Opes Prime Team BRM Nathan Carratti WA Dallara F307 Mercedes Benz Black / Blue 27 Piccola Scuderia Corse Neil McFadyen Dallara F307 Mercedes Benz Black 35 Scud Racing Stuart Kostera (WA) Dallara F307 Mercedes Benz Black / Silver 42 TanderSport Leanne Tander VIC Dallara F307 Mercedes Benz Black / Silver 23 Astuti Motorsport Ray Chamberlain VIC Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo White / Yellow 22 Chris Alajajian Chris Alajajian NSW Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo Blue / Yellow Opes Prime National Class * indicates eligibility for Opes Prime Prizes 6 Opes Prime Team BRM Lee Farrell IRE Dallara F304 Spiess Opel * Green / White 17 Gilmour Racing Chris Gilmour QLD Dallara F304 Spiess Opel * Red / White 20 Transwest Racing James Crozier NSW Dallara F304 Mugen Honda Orange 21 Graeme Holmes Graeme Holmes NSW Dallara F304 Spiess Opel Yellow / Red 24 Astuti Motorsport Daniel Schulz VIC Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo Orange / Black 26 Piccola Scuderia Corse Daniel Cotton Dallara F304 Spiess Opel * Black 52 TanderSport Chris Reindler WA Dallara F304 Spiess Opel * Black / Silver 89 Scud Racing Mathew Radisich VIC Dallara F304 Spiess Opel * Red Formula 3 Australia Trophy Class 12 John Boothman John Boothman VIC Dallara F301 Fiat Red 16 Kevin Miller Andrew Mill QLD Dallara F301 Spiess Opel Red 25 Scud Racing Justin Tate VIC Dallara F301 Spiess Opel Silver / Green / Purple 37 Rod Anderson Rod Anderson VIC Dallara F396 Toyota White / Blue 59 R-Tek F3 / JR Motorsport Jesse Wakeman SA Dallara F301 Spiess Opel Blue 86 Kevin Miller Kevin Miller QLD Dallara F301 Renault Sodemo Red |
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