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Front
Row Fix for BRM at Frosty Island.
PHILLIP
ISLAND - SATURDAY, May 21st, 2005 – Team BRM will have one
car on the front row of each of tomorrow’s two races that comprise
this weekend’s third round of the 2005 Kumho Tyres Australian
Formula 3 championship at Phillip Island, after a productive pair
of qualifying sessions at a typically unpredictable Phillip Island
today.
In
changeable conditions that ranged from the biting cold to almost
warm sunny blue skies, returning Formula 3 Champion Karl Reindler
stole the show in the opening qualifying session, scoring a tightly
fought pole position by just a tenth of a second from current championship
contender Aaron Caratti’s similar 04 model Dallara.
Reindler,
working this weekend with the same engineer and crew that he took
championship glory with last year, completed 11 laps for a best
of 1m27.0089 – two tenths underneath the Lap record set at
the Island in 2003.
“It
was a pretty good lap,” enthused the West Australian driver.
“I was hoping to break into the 26’s, but I made a mistake
coming into the southern loop and lost a bit of time there, but
overall im really happy with the performance and it will be good
to be going from pole position tomorrow.”
Reindler
backed up his race one effort with a solid third position for the
second race, meaning that he will be right in the hunt for both
of tomorrow’s two races.
Current
Co-Championship leader Michael Trimble had a consistent day, qualifying
in the top three for both races tomorrow – meaning he will
have a real shot at jumping into a solid championship lead tomorrow,
considering co leader Chris Alajajian had a difficult few sessions
after a heavy crash yesterday.
The
20-year-old Melbournian qualified third for race one – just
.14 of a second off pole – and second for race two, again just
a few tenths from the leader.
“Not
a bad day overall,” Trimble said. “Im a bitt disappointed
with the first session, but I think that we will still be right
on the pace tomorrow. The car is very good and should be pretty
consistent in the races. We know we have the pace so it’s just
a matter of getting to the front and scoring some good points for
the championship.”
Team
BRM’s Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Trophy Class contender
Marc Williams had a forgettable first look at Phillip Island yesterda
- and endured a difficult pair of sessions today, completing just
seven laps in both sessions and never really having the opportunity
to show his true pace. The Young New Zealander currently leads the
Trophy Class championship table after a strong showing at Mallala
raceway a month ago.
Tomorrow’s
two races could end up being the decisive rounds in the championship,
the close competition in the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship
meaning that if a driver can make a break at the top of the charts,
he will become very hard to overhaul in the remaining five rounds
this year.
And
whilst Karl Reindler is purely racing for results and to give the
Number one plate he has on his Dallara 304 a good showing, it’s
team-mate Michael Trimble who will be looking to be the one to leap
out to a strong series lead.
Tomorrow’s
two races will be both held over 14 challenging laps of the 4.45km
Phillip Island circuit.
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