Gilmour Racing
Phillip Island - A
Successful Return for Gilmour Racing
Round four at Phillip
Island and Gilmour Racing lifted the covers off their new F307 ex
Fortec/Mansell car to rejoin the 2010 Australian Formula 3
Championship. It has been seven months since driver Chris Gilmour
turned a lap and it looked like he hadn’t left.
Friday’s practice was all about learning the new car, making sure
everything was working fine and to get a good platform for a race
setup. Gilmour finished both practice sessions in 6th and
5th. “Wow that is the best car I have ever driven”
said Gilmour stepping out of the cockpit after practice one “The
difference is massive compared to our old F304, the amount of down
force, the entry and exit speed you can carry through the turns is
incredible, that was great to drive” saying with a smile.
After the two sessions Gilmour Racing was 1.5 sec of the pacesetter Mitch Evans, however being on very old rubber the team knew they would be close to the pace and believed they had a great setup for Qualifying. Saturday morning’s qualifying session went to plan, setting the 4th quickest time allowing Gilmour to battle it out in the Top Six Shoot Out. The quick 10 min session allowed Gilmour to improve his times with each lap with the car getting quicker and quicker which worked in Gilmour’s favour. By the end of the Top Six Shoot Out, Gilmour had set the 3rd quickest time, only 0.98 tenths off the pole sitter. “What a great result for our first qualifying session back. We are sitting in 3rd knowing we have more in the car, the new tyres really helped, now we can make some minor adjustments to push that extra out of the car” Gilmour said after finishing 3rd in Qualifying one.
Race one, this would be Gilmour’s first start in the new car and typical of Gilmour, he got a blinder of a start picking up a place and battling for the lead into turn one. Gilmour had to settle back into 3rd place behind Evans and Tweedie. By lap five Gilmour had fallen back to 4th as Baker made a move slip streaming down the main straight and this is where Gilmour would end up finishing Race one, 4th.
Race two and a typical Phillip Island day, sunshine then rain and with a semi wet track. Gilmour started from 4th on the grid, picking up a place off the start but a brave under brakes move by Lindom into Honda hairpin pushed Gilmour back to 5th. Being pushed wide Gilmour could not get a good exit and was then passed by Baker into the next turn, by the end of lap one Gilmour went from 4th to 3rd back to 5th being passed by Kiwi Ben Crighton down the main straight on lap two. Gilmour pushed hard to keep on the back of the leading bunch but the gap was too great and could not pull the gap back. On lap three Tweedie spun out of MG allowing Gilmour to pick up another spot and then on Lap four, Lindom ran wide and into the sand trap giving Gilmour back 4th position and this is where he would finish race two.
Race three and the Feature Race, Gilmour started again from Grid four getting a great start passing Tweedie at over 230km/h on the outside into turn one putting Gilmour into 3rd place. Battling with the leaders Gilmour locked the inside front wheel running into Honda Hairpin, putting him out in the dirt allowing Tweedie, Lindom and Crighton pass. Sitting in 6th place Gilmour fought hard and was catching the front bunch and on Lap nine passed Lindom for 4th place. Sitting behind Tandersports Crighton, Gilmour and Ben were swapping lap times, Gilmour slowly catching Crighton but was doing so in the wrong places not allowing him to put a move on Crighton. By the end of the race Gilmour finished in 4th place very close behind Crighton and was happy to have the 2nd fastest lap time for the race. “I knew we were quick and really believe we would of finished 2nd if I didn’t’ run wide on lap one, but that’s racing and I was pushing hard and now I know the limit of the new car”.
Gilmour took away 4th place overall for the round just one point behind Crighton. “We are so happy, we proved that we have a quick car and given I have not been in a car for seven months, along with bringing out the new car, we are very happy with our result” a cheerful Gilmour said.
“The next round is back on home soil at Morgan Park Warwick for us in August, and this is a track that I will be one of 2 drivers that have driven on it, so I'm looking forward to this”
Gilmour Racing would like to thank their sponsors for getting them back on the track in 2010 – All Properties Group, PM Lubricants, identity Plus, and Gilmour Racing for their continuing support.
After the two sessions Gilmour Racing was 1.5 sec of the pacesetter Mitch Evans, however being on very old rubber the team knew they would be close to the pace and believed they had a great setup for Qualifying. Saturday morning’s qualifying session went to plan, setting the 4th quickest time allowing Gilmour to battle it out in the Top Six Shoot Out. The quick 10 min session allowed Gilmour to improve his times with each lap with the car getting quicker and quicker which worked in Gilmour’s favour. By the end of the Top Six Shoot Out, Gilmour had set the 3rd quickest time, only 0.98 tenths off the pole sitter. “What a great result for our first qualifying session back. We are sitting in 3rd knowing we have more in the car, the new tyres really helped, now we can make some minor adjustments to push that extra out of the car” Gilmour said after finishing 3rd in Qualifying one.
Race one, this would be Gilmour’s first start in the new car and typical of Gilmour, he got a blinder of a start picking up a place and battling for the lead into turn one. Gilmour had to settle back into 3rd place behind Evans and Tweedie. By lap five Gilmour had fallen back to 4th as Baker made a move slip streaming down the main straight and this is where Gilmour would end up finishing Race one, 4th.
Race two and a typical Phillip Island day, sunshine then rain and with a semi wet track. Gilmour started from 4th on the grid, picking up a place off the start but a brave under brakes move by Lindom into Honda hairpin pushed Gilmour back to 5th. Being pushed wide Gilmour could not get a good exit and was then passed by Baker into the next turn, by the end of lap one Gilmour went from 4th to 3rd back to 5th being passed by Kiwi Ben Crighton down the main straight on lap two. Gilmour pushed hard to keep on the back of the leading bunch but the gap was too great and could not pull the gap back. On lap three Tweedie spun out of MG allowing Gilmour to pick up another spot and then on Lap four, Lindom ran wide and into the sand trap giving Gilmour back 4th position and this is where he would finish race two.
Race three and the Feature Race, Gilmour started again from Grid four getting a great start passing Tweedie at over 230km/h on the outside into turn one putting Gilmour into 3rd place. Battling with the leaders Gilmour locked the inside front wheel running into Honda Hairpin, putting him out in the dirt allowing Tweedie, Lindom and Crighton pass. Sitting in 6th place Gilmour fought hard and was catching the front bunch and on Lap nine passed Lindom for 4th place. Sitting behind Tandersports Crighton, Gilmour and Ben were swapping lap times, Gilmour slowly catching Crighton but was doing so in the wrong places not allowing him to put a move on Crighton. By the end of the race Gilmour finished in 4th place very close behind Crighton and was happy to have the 2nd fastest lap time for the race. “I knew we were quick and really believe we would of finished 2nd if I didn’t’ run wide on lap one, but that’s racing and I was pushing hard and now I know the limit of the new car”.
Gilmour took away 4th place overall for the round just one point behind Crighton. “We are so happy, we proved that we have a quick car and given I have not been in a car for seven months, along with bringing out the new car, we are very happy with our result” a cheerful Gilmour said.
“The next round is back on home soil at Morgan Park Warwick for us in August, and this is a track that I will be one of 2 drivers that have driven on it, so I'm looking forward to this”
Gilmour Racing would like to thank their sponsors for getting them back on the track in 2010 – All Properties Group, PM Lubricants, identity Plus, and Gilmour Racing for their continuing support.