Chris Gilmour - Australian F3 Drivers' Champion

CHRIS GILMOURtook eight years and more starts than any other driver, but today he is achampion after winning the Formula 3 Australian Drivers’ Championship for theCAMS Gold Star award.

For years the Queenslander had dreamed of winning a national title and afterfalling short in 2004 – when he lost to Karl Reindler by 3 points –he today fulfilled that ambition by taking yet another dramatic Gold Star titlerace.

Gilmour’s road to the title this weekend was a bumpy one, as season-long rivalJames Winslow threw every ounce of his considerable skill and experience athim, winning today’s second race and blitzing the field in the third to takethe flag first – but that wasn’t the end of the story.

A large crowd stayed to watch the Gold Star finale’ following the final V8Supercar race of the weekend, and they were rewarded with a dramatic race andtitle decider. A 10-second post-race penalty for rolling at the start sawWinslow relegated to second, and with Gilmour finishing fifth the title racewas all over.

It was the fifth time that the Gold Star had been decided in the final round infive years as Gilmour won the title by eight points after leading by 19entering the deciding weekend.

“For years my ambition has been to win a National title in motor racing,”Gilmour said.

“And now I’ve done it. It’s an amazing feeling. I never thought I’d get to thispoint after what we have been through over the past seasons. After Morgan Park(Where he won all three races) I felt I had a realistic chance to do it –and it was something I wanted so badly.

“This weekend was a case of doing exactly what we needed to do. I needed to winon Saturday because I was worried about the weather today. From there it wasjust doing what I had to.”

After question marks were raised about his ability to compete on raw speed,Gilmour answered the critics this season by winning six times – one morethan his successful 2004 season – and by using consistency to score 15podium finishes from the 20 races contested.

“It was good to win this weekend and win regularly this season,” he admitted.

“It showed I could take it to the best of them regularly and compete on rawspeed as well as consistency and pace. I basically doubled my win tally thisyear which is great!”

Gilmour – who mixes his racing with his full time successful career asthe owner of Brisbane-based Real Estate agency All Properties Group –attributed his success to his hard-working father Errol, who essentiallysingle-handedly prepares the car, and his Mum, Jen.

“Mum and Dad have given so much so this is for them,” he said.

“Dad spends every night preparing the car and working on it and that’s whatmakes it so good. This one is for them.

“I’ll be back,” he added. “It will be strange to race without my #17 on thecar, but good to race with No.1. We’ll be on the grid at Clipsal..”

Winslow finished second in the championship; just eight points behind thechampion despite missing an entire round after a calendar clash saw him unableto race at Morgan Park. The R-Tek Motorsport driver still won more races thananyone else this season (8) and fought strongly all season to regain the titlehe won in 2008.

John Magro had a frustrating weekend but did enough to secure third in thechampionship. Possibly the quickest car all weekend, mistakes in races two andthree this weekend saw him pass almost the entire field twice as he chargedfrom last to third in both.