Gilmourcontinues to extend his lead.

Queensland’s Chris Gilmour has continued to dominatein the latest round of the Australian National Class Formula 3Championship.  Round five of the championship and Gilmour Racing headed toChris’s favourite circuit, Phillip Island.  Chris Gilmour dominated with a Stella performance with a 2^nd place in race one and 1^stplace in race two, while also recording the fastest lap in both races. This hasenabled Chris to extend his points lead in the race to the 2008 National ClassFormula 3 Championship.

Practice one and two experienced some typical PhillipIsland conditions, Wet, Cold and windy; however in both sessions the track wasdrying.  It was hard for Gilmour to get into the groove with a half wet circuitalthough he was still able to put in some quick laps in the dying minutes ofthe practice session.  His efforts placed him 2^nd and 3^rdquickest in the two practice sessions on Friday.

Qualifying one was a gamble with tyre choice as rainhad hit the track during the early morning, however the team decided on slicksand it was the right move.  Not being at the test session the week before,it was Gilmour’s first dry run of the weekend.  During the session Gilmourkept knocking his times down with each lap getting quicker as he settled intothe track, by the end of the session Gilmour was in 4^thposition. 

Gilmour’s time was a massive 1.8 sec of 2007 ChampionTim Macrow.  So with some changes to the car after qualifying one, theteam hit the track for qualifying two hoping for a better result. During theday more rain had fallen and it again started to fall lightly just as the carswent out on track.  Chris had a window of about two laps to punch out aquick lap time, but unfortunately he was stuck in traffic on his second lap,consequently it was his quickest lap of the session as heavy rain fell andstopped the session early.  Gilmour ended the qualifying session in 3^rdposition behind Macrow & Tate. “ What a bad session that was, every one’sfastest lap was their out lap so it’s really was hard to judge how we areagainst the other cars but everyone was in the same situation so I will justhave to get a good race start on Sunday” Gilmour said.

Race one – Gilmour got off the line with a greatstart picking up four positions before turn one placing him just behind Tateand Farrell.  Gilmour struggled early in the race to get some heat intohis Kumho tyres and was trying to hold the gap that Farrell and Tate had pulledearly on in the race.  On lap five Gilmour was passed by Macrow relegatingGilmour back to 4^th position, then on the next lap the safety carwas deployed to pick up a stranded car on the track.  On the re-startGilmour was able to hold onto the leaders, going into Lukey Heights Macrow spuntrying to pass Farrell for 2^nd position. Gilmour narrowing missingthe spinning car moved into 3^rd position.  Three corners latercoming onto the start / finish straight Justin Tate’s engine blew, through theengine smoke Gilmour emerged right on the back off Farrell.  Slipstreaming down the main straight Gilmour moved into the lead with one lap togo.  By turn two Gilmour had pulled a small gap on Farrell and was on hisway to victory, until coming on the main straight Gilmour hit the oil that wasleft from Tate’s engine blow up which slowed his car to keep it on the trackallowing Farrell to slip stream past Gilmour to the finish line. 

Chris Gilmour lost the race by the shortest time inFormula 3 history by a minor 0.005 of a second. Both cars crossed the linetogether and it was only after looking at the time sheet was a winnerestablished.  “What a race, to be in 4^th for most of the raceand then to be leading on the last lap, then to throw it away by hitting theoil, I’m so angry with myself but I couldn’t see where the oil patch was, itshard at over 200kmh sometimes, but I did post fastest lap of the race so that’sa bonus”.

Race two – Again Gilmour got a great startslipping straight in behind Farrell, and on the second lap Gilmour slipped pastFarrell on the outside of the main straight to take the lead.  From thereGilmour continued to push hard and pulled a gap on the rest of the field. Onthe third lap the safety car was deployed as there was some carnage on turntwo. On the re start Gilmour broke away from the pack and didn’t look back,pulling a 4 sec gap by the end of the race and also taking out the fastest lapof the race. 

Gilmour recorded his fourth win of the season fromnine races and extended his points lead to 43 points.  “The car feltgreat, the team gave me the perfect race setup that allowed me to just driveaway from field, it’s a great feeling just to drive away from the others andcontrol the race”

Chris Gilmour now holds the Championship lead, 43points clear of Lee Farrell and 96 Points clear of third place MatthewRadisich.  With 3 rounds to go the team are off to Eastern Creek in midJuly, and the team will be looking to extend their lead in the 2008 NationalClass Formula 3 Championship.

Chris Gilmourwould like to thank his sponsors for their continued support:

Identity Plus,Hutcheon & Pearce at Wagga Wagga, Albury,Temora, Cowra & Parkes,Chesterfield Australia at Warren, Dubbo, Moree, Goondiwindi, Yatala, AcaciaRidge, A & G Machinery P/L at Griffith, Hutcheon A & G P/L atNarrandera and Finley and Sharpe’s Tractor Centre at Rutherford & Taree, PMLubricants, Revolution Race gear Brisbane, Graphic Dak photos & AllProperties Group. We would like to thank each of you for your valued andimportant .