In our ongoing coverage from Queensland Raceway, we take a look at what happened in the Australian Formula 3 Drivers Championship
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Tim Macrow was dominant in the F3 races, taking all three. He was also doing double duty, racing an Audi in the Australian GT
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Nick Foster had a strong round in the Mygale, taking a couple of podiums.
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The F3 cars were in a temporary structure at Queensland Raceway but the teams presented professionally turned out cars
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The Kumho tyres are a solid tyre for the F3s, proving cheap and durable while providing good racing
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Running wide at turn two is a no-no for a F3 with the massive ditch that the touring cars carve out on the exit
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Arty
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Ben Gersekowski had a great round, taking a second and third. He was fighting for the podium with Jordan Oon but a late race incident broke his front wing and suspension, dropping him to fifth
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Macrow was in a class of his own. His main rival, Steel Guiliana was not present after his massive Darwin crash drained his funds
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The National class battle for older cars was tight with Jon Collins, Todd Hazlewood and Arrie Marie all fighting – but Marie would have a tough round with mechanical problems
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This is what happens when you put the wings on upsidedown. Someone was watching the racing from a different angle
The races in brief
SHOULD HE go on to win the 2013 Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship, Tim Macrow will likely look back at Queensland Raceway round as the one where it all came together.
Macrow jumped to the biggest lead of the season after a dominating performance this weekend that saw him win three races, score pole position, a lap record and all bar one championship point available.
It was the most dominant and complete performance of the season and has stretched his lead over John Magro to 37 points, with two rounds remaining.
Nick Foster (Mygale) finished second today and Jordan Oon third to complete a 1-2-3 sweep for Team BRM this weekend.
Jon Collins broke through for his debut win in the Forpark National Class after an epic battle with teammate Todd Hazelwood, which saw the pair wheel-to-wheel through turn one at 200km/hr on more than one occasion today.
Collins was perhaps the only person smiling larger than Macrow at the conclusion of today’s hostilities, having put an emphatic stamp on the championship with two rounds to go.
“It was just amazing this weekend,” Macrow said.
“The car was absolutely fantastic and we really didn’t change much at all from the moment we got on the track. It’s a testament to how hard the entire team, Mark, JP, Trent, Shane and everyone has worked.
“We worked so hard to get as big a margin as we could this weekend and we’re feeling good going into the two Victorian rounds at the end of the year.
“It couldn’t have been much better in getting us in a good position. The next challenge is to find the cash to go on with it for Phillip Island.”
Macrow also set a new lap record for Queensland Raceway in race two today, lapping 0.3s underneath the existing benchmark.
Foster finished second today, but was cost a potentially higher result after a race two touch with Jordan Oon saw him damage the front wing of his Mygale – slipping to fifth from a potential second place finish.
Still, the Mygale showed it’s true pace once again and set the fastest lap of the race – the only bonus point Macrow didn’t score this weekend.
“I think people fail to realise that this car is still only five meetings old,” Brisbane-based Foster said.
“To have this kind of a weekend given where we are at with the Mygale is a massive thing for us. It’s great. I’m a bit frustrated with the day because it could have been better if not for race two, it was a case of what could have been had race two panned out better there.
“Still, we showed how fast the car was again.”
Jordan Oon finished third after a meteoric feature race battle with Queensland hope, Ben Gersekowski.
One week out from racing a F3 car at Spa Francorchamps, Oon held third for much of the race but was caught – and passed – by the McDonald’s Gilmour Racing Dallara into turn three with two laps to go.
Oon returned serve at turn four and regained the position, Gersekowski damaging his front wing on the rear of Oon’s car in the following corner whilst attempting to fight back.
The podium effort was the first time on the feature race podium this year for the West Australian-based driver.
Magro passed Gersekowski on the run to the flag to take fourth, Nathan Morcom sixth.
Gersekowski had earlier raced to second position in race two, his best ever F3 race result and a sign of his continued performance improvement.
The battle of the day was reserved for the Forpark National class, teammates Todd Hazelwood and Jon Collins dicing wheel-to-wheel for the entire race distance.
The pair survived several tense moments before Collins was able to hold out Sydney winner Hazelwood to take his maiden Formula 3 feature race victory today.
“I can’t explain how it feels,” Collins said.
“To get two wins and the round is just unbelievable especially after the up and down start to the season that we have had. It was great to back up our results in Sydney with a great run here in Queensland.”
Collins said he and Hazelwood raced hard – but clean – for the 16-lap duration of the feature race this afternoon.
“It was very, very close! He was gaining on me in the slower corners and we went through turn one side by side a couple of times, but in the end I told myself that he was not going to get by, and it was my race.”
Class leader Arrie Maree struggled all weekend with an engine miss that cost him performance, though still holds a solid – if narrower than before – class lead after five of seven rounds.
The next round of the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship will be held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit, with the Shannons Nationals, this September.
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See more coverage from our Shannons Nationals weekend at Queensland Raceway
– Preview with Nathan Assaillit
– Interview with Australian GT driver, Klark Quinn
– Interview with F3 Driver, Ben Gersekowski
– Interview with Pedders Motorsport drivers
– Our Australian GT photo gallery
– Our Kumho Tyres V8 Touring Car photo gallery
– Our Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge photo gallery
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By Sam Tickell, August 2013
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