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Reindler and Gilmour take qualifying spoils in Opes |
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Saturday, 02 February 2008 |
Australian Formula 3’s two
Chris’, Reindler and Gilmour, have taken class pole in race one and two
respectively for tomorrow’s Opes Prime National Class races at Eastern
Creek
Chris Reindler may count himself lucky, because although he took
class pole for tomorrow’s first race he crashed soon afterwards in the first
qualifying session, causing drama in his pits to get the TanderSport Dallara
F304 Opel Spiess ready for the second session.
“Pole was great; I was driving on the limit and we obviously had enough speed to
take pole,” Reindler said.
“But then I pushed too hard and spun in turn
four, and backed it into the wall, which obviously wasn’t too good!”
The
TanderSport crew then had to rush to repair the rear of the car for the second
qualifying session, and only managed to get Reindler back out on track with half
of the second session remaining.
Reindler’s team hadn’t had time to work
on the setup, and with little time to set a flying lap he only managed to
qualify in fifth for Sunday’s second race.
Second in the first qualifying
session was Opes Prime Team BRM driver Lee Farrell (Dallara F304 Opel Spiess),
who said the team were just as focused on finding the right setup after engine
problems in practice yesterday, as they were to getting a good grid
position.
“There’s still a little bit of time in the car, but I was happy
enough with that session – we look strong for tomorrow,” Farrell
said.
Third was Chris Gilmour (Snatchit.com.au / Dallara F304 Opel
Spiess), followed by Formula 3’s two Daniels - Daniel Schulz (Astuti Motorsport
/ Dallara F304 Renault Sodemo) and Daniel Cotton (Piccola Scuderia / Dallara
F304 Spiess Opel), with Mathew Radisich (Scud Racing / Dallara F304 Spiess Opel)
rounding out the top six.
Class pole in race one was 1m26.1294, however
times worsened in the second session due to rubber laid down by the A1 Grand
Prix cars not agreeing with the Formula 3 Kumho tyres, making for slightly
slippery conditions in perfectly dry weather.
Experienced campaigner
Chris Gilmour was best prepared for the session, taking the Opes Prime National
Pole for race two with a time of 1m28.66287 – over two and a half seconds off
the pace compared to the first session.
“It always seems to be quicker
around here in the morning, but the A1GP tyres made things pretty hard in second
qualifying, but we still had the speed to take pole,” Gilmour
explained.
“I picked up a lot of pace over yesterday by pushing harder
myself and working on the setup,” he said.
”We had some aero problems in
qualifying one, which we fixed, and then we took pole by almost half a second in
the second session.”
Daniel Schulz overcame traffic problems in the first
session to set the second quickest time in the Opes Prime National Class for
race two.
“We feel comfortable with the car, and there are a lot of close
times in the class, so there should be some good racing tomorrow,” Schulz
said.
Lee Farrell backed up on his strong first session result to set the
third fastest time in class, followed by Cotton, the rushed Reindler, and
Radisich finished the first six in the class for race two.
In the Trophy
Class, Andrew Mill took pole for both races in his Dallara F301 Spiess Opel,
ahead of Justin Tate (Scud Racing / Dallara F301 Spiess Opel, while Jesse
Wakeman (R-Tek F3 / Dallara F301 Spiess Opel) also held station in the two
sessions to start third in class for both races.
Meanwhile, in the Kumho
Tyres Australian Drivers Championship Class, Leanne Tander took pole in race one
with her TanderSport Dallara F307 Mercedes Benz – which means that TanderSport
cars will start from pole in both the Championship and National classes, with
Opes Prime Team BRM team-mates Nathan Caratti and Earl Bamber qualifying in
second and third in their Dallara F307s with Mercedes Benz engines.
Pole
for the second race in the Championship Class was locked out by Team BRM, with
Caratti taking pole, followed by team-mates Bamber and James
Winslow.
Qualifying 1 - National Top 5
1. Chris
Reindler 1m26.1294
2. Lee Farrell 1m26.3878
3. Chris Gilmour
1m26.4161
4. Daniel Schulz 1m27.0395
5. Daniel Cotton
1m27.2106
Championship Class: Leanne Tander 1m24.0969
Trophy Class:
Andrew Mill 1m28.5049
Qualifying 2 - National Top
5
1. Chris Gilmour 1m28.66287
2. Daniel Schulz
1m29.0832
3. Lee Farrell 1m29.1383
4. Daniel Cotton 1m29.4006
5. Chris
Reindler 1m30.2741
Championship Class: Nathan Caratti 1m26.3211
Trophy
Class: Andrew Mill 1m30.1189
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