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Chris Reindler led practice
in the Opes Prime National Class in changeable conditions today, in the opening
round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship at Eastern
Creek.
Reindler first had to steer
his TanderSport Dallara F304 Spiess Opel through rain in the first practice
session before setting the quickest time in the Opes Prime National Class later
in the afternoon.
“I haven’t had a lot of laps
in the car before – only about 50 before the meeting, so I had a lot to learn
but I feel like I’m gaining confidence quickly, so I’m really happy to finish my
first day on top,” Reindler said.
Reindler was only third in
class during the first session – his first time driving a Formula 3 car in the
wet, but he felt more at home after the Eastern Creek circuit had dried out late
in the afternoon.
“There’s still a bit left to
tune and the track wasn’t ideal,” he said, “I think we have a pretty good chance
at getting pole tomorrow so I’m happy with our progress.”
Second in both the wet
morning and dry afternoon session was Astuti Motorsport driver Daniel Schulz
(Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo).
Consistency was the key for
the Victorian, who feels that with patchy weather forecast for the rest of the
meeting he has a strong chance no matter what the weather throws at
him.
“The first session was very
slippery and took a lot of time to get temperatures up,” Schulz said. “The car
otherwise felt really good in the wet, but it was only first practice so there
was no point in taking any risks but we were happy with our time.
Schulz was at the top of the
class with quickest time for most of the afternoon session, but Reindler just
managed to beat him by two-hundredths of a second at the end.
“We’re feeling really good
for qualifying tomorrow, but it’s going to come down to getting a good run
through the traffic and it could be a bit of a lottery,” he said.
20-year-old Irishman Lee
Farrell led the Opes Prime National Class in the morning with a best lap that
bettered Schulz, in second, by over three seconds.
“The car felt good during
the entire session, so we’ve got a good baseline wet setup if it rains later on,
but it also started to dry out towards the end of the session, so we were able
to push harder and set a really good time,” Farrell said.
However, Farrell wasn’t able
to repeat the performance in the second session, and set the fourth fastest time
in the class.
“We had problems with the
engine in the second practice session, so we weren’t able to go as quick as we
otherwise could,” he said.
In the Australian Formula 3
Trophy Class a young 16-year-old by the name of Justin Tate steered his Scud
Racing Dallara F301 Spiess Opel to the quickest times in the class during both
sessions.
What truly made his
performance today extraordinary was that along the way he set the 11th and 14th
fastest times overall – beating both National and Championship class competitors
in both sessions, despite driving an older generation car.
The Championship Class - for
the newest cars in the field - was led by Nathan Caratti (Opes Prime Team BRM /
Dallara F307 Mercedes Benz), who set a time that was over 20 seconds quicker
than the first session, which was led by team-mate James Winslow.
SESSION 1 - National
Top 5
1. Lee Farrell 1m49.7954
2. Daniel Schulz
1m53.0932
3. Chris Reindler 1m56.2555
4. Daniel Cotton 2m00.2692
5.
James Crozier 2m02.0897
Championship Class: James
Winslow 1m44.2853
Trophy Class: Justin Tate 1m58.9433
SESSION 2 - National
Top 5
1. Chris Reindler 1m26.9568
2. Daniel Schulz
1m26.9790
3. Daniel Cotton 1m27.4368
4. Lee Farrell Dallara 1m28.3143
5. Mathew Radisich 1m28.8363
Championship Class: Nathan
Caratti 1m24.0931
Trophy Class: Justin Tate 1m29.4692
About
the Opes Prime National Class
The winner of the 2008
Championship will win either $40,000 cash or the opportunity to negotiate a
fully-funded drive in the 2009 Championship / Gold Star class thanks to Opes
Prime, should they nominate and run the new Spiess Opel engine program.
All cars entered in the new engine program will share the fastest lap
data from each session, enabling all Opes Prime National Class competitors
registered to compete on a completely level playing field – leaving it down to
driver and team skill.
Cars not running the Spiess Opel engine are still
eligible to score points in the National Class however they are not eligible to
compete for the prizes on offer.
About Opes Prime: Opes
Prime specializes in providing securities lending and equity financing, trade
execution, structured products, corporate advisory and asset management services
to sophisticated market players, including other stockbrokers, banks, advisers,
fund managers, corporations and individuals. Opes Prime has offices in
Melbourne, Sydney and Singapore
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