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McFadyen Seven-tenths up after opening practice in Adelaide |
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Thursday, 21 February 2008 |
”This is the most fun you can
have sitting down – it’s awesome!”
Neil McFadyen has every reason to be
pleased to be back on the streets of Adelaide – and after today he’s got even
more after dominating opening practice for this weekend’s second round of the
Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide.
McFadyen took his Piccola Scuderia Corse Dallara F307 – Mercedes Benz to the top
time in this afternoons second session, his 1m19.5426s lap some seven-tenths
quicker than second place Ben Clucas.
The Sydneysider was second fastest
in the opening session to cap off a strong day for the 2004 Gold Star Champion,
in front of over 44,000 people present at the track today.
McFadyen
finished fifth in the opening round of the championship at Eastern Creek, but
set fastest lap in the race to show his speed credentials ahead of this
weekends’ second round.
”We didn’t get a chance to test before this
round so we’re doing it today – and obviously it’s going well,” he enthused.
”I’m really pleased with the way it’s gone. The team has put an
excellent setup in the car and it’s performing really well. It’s awesome to
drive and I think today’s performances are an indication of where we are going
to be this weekend. We’re going to take it as it comes and getting ourselves
into a groove for qualifying tomorrow.”
British driver Ben Clucas was
second this afternoon, rebounding from a gearbox failure that left him stranded
on the circuit after minimal laps in practice one.
His Opes Prime Team
BRM team-mates (James Winslow, Nathan Caratti and Earl Bamber) were next in the
order – Caratti topping practice one – whilst Leanne Tander was also well in the
mix in her TanderSport #42 car.
In something of a surprise, Sydneysider Mat
Sofi was third quickest in practice one showing the continuing potential from
both the laconic driver and his Transwest Racing team.
”I really like
the track, it’s awesome to drive on and really challenging,” he enthused.
”I arrived really late and didn’t get much of a chance to walk the track
or test like the others – so I just went out, learnt my way around and it looks
like I got it right.
Sofi was seventh quickest in the second session to
cap off a solid day.
Today’s best lap was just tenths from the outright
track record, teams and drivers predicting times to tumble tomorrow when new
rubber is bolted onto the cars for qualifying.
First qualifying will be
held from 09:05am tomorrow morning.
For more information head to
www.formula3.com.au
Practice Results (Combined
Times)
- Neil McFadyen (Piccola
Scuderia Corse) 1m19.5426
- Ben Clucas (Opes Prime Team
BRM) 1m20.2983
- James Winslow (Opes Prime
Team BRM) 1m20.3716
- Nathan Caratti (Opes Prime
Team BRM) 1m20.5683
- Earl Bamber (Opes Prime
Team BRM) 1m20.8500
National Class: Chris
Gilmour (Gilmour Racing) 1m21.7655
Trophy Class: Andrew Mill (Property
Solutions Group) 1:25.7929
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