Gilmour Takes Second In National Championship

2004 Australian F3 Championship Round 8 Surfers Paradise Round Report
Written by Darius Koreis

Gilmour Racing and their driver Chris Gilmour relished the thought of taking out the 2004 Australian Formula 3 Championship at their home event. Unfortunately after a horrific Thursday the team faced a steep uphill
ascent, which they were not able to climb, and finished a very respectable second in the standings, only three points behind winner, Karl Reindler, after eight furious rounds of racing.

Gilmour Racing came to the previous round at Mallala trailing by 4 points, but finished the round leading by 9 points leading into the Surfers Paradise round. At testing prior to Mallala, Chris Gilmour suffered an injury, breaking his thumb, but he courageously drove on. After Surfers Paradise, Gilmour had an operation to place a screw in his thumb.

The Surfers Paradise schedule was very different to the usual one the field was used to. Instead of two practice sessions, two qualifying sessions, and two races, there would be only one session each for practice on qualifying, and three races - all of which would count towards the championship. Practice, qualifying, and race one were held on Thursday, with the remaining races held on Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.

Practice:
Chris Gilmour hit the daunting concrete canyon for the first time in a race car, and like the majority of drivers took his time to learn his braking points, and not risk damaging his Dallara F301 on the bare
concrete. In the dying minutes of the session, drizzle started to fall on the circuit, but it was too little too late to effect times. Chris completed nine laps, and recorded a best time of 1:57.9949, good enough for the fourth fastest time of the session.

Qualifying:
Heavy rain accompanied a storm that drifted over the track less than half an hour before the qualifying session began. Gilmour Racing
hurried to change from slick to rain tyres, finishing preparations only minutes before the session began. As quickly as the storm came, it went, and the circuit was bathed in sunshine. The track was still too wet for anything other than rain tyres when the cars hit the track, with areas of standing water.

With only nine laps track experience, and the added element of the wet track, Chris Gilmour cautiously lapped the circuit, sending up rooster tails of water down the straights. With minutes remaining, Gilmour
Racing called Chris in to change to dry tyres - the first team to do so - on the increasingly dry circuit. Chris rejoined the circuit with enough time to do an out lap, and three hot laps. However, he was only
able to compete one hot lap before the session was red-flagged due to Marcus Marshall damaging his car, and Chris was left languishing in eighth position. He set a best time of 2:13.3645. The qualifying rules
meant that he would start each of the three races in eighth position, while archrival Karl Reindler would start from fourth.

Race 1:
The sky was threatening to open up once again for a Formula 3 session, but it held off for the duration of the first race. Chris Gilmour lined up in eighth place, with a heavy task ahead of him - to defend
his 9-point championship lead. When the lights went out, Chris got a great start, heading down into the first corner in sixth place. However, at the first chicane Chris Gilmour and Chris Alajajian came together. While Alajajian was able to recover in last place, Gilmour was forced to retire from the race with broken suspension and wing
damage.

Karl Reindler finished in fourth position, and picked up 10 points. Chris Gilmour was demoted to second in the championship by just one point, with two races left at Surfers Paradise.

Race 2:
With the damage to the front wing and suspension repaired, Chris again lined up in eighth position on the grid. However, Aaron Caratti failed to take to the grid, so Chris effectively started in seventh position.
Off the lights Chris Gilmour beat Bevan Carrick, and slotted into sixth place into the first corner. But for the remainder of the race, sixth is where he would stay. Struggling for pace, Chris had to settle
for finishing behind Kenny Habul. However, after the race, Habul was penalised 30 seconds, and Chris moved up into fifth position. The result gave him 8 vital points, while Reindler finished in third place, picking up 12 points, and extending his lead to 5 points.

Race 3:
For the final race of the weekend, and the 2004 season, Gilmour Racing knew they had to really pull a rabbit out of a hat to take the championship victory. The crew lowered the downforce generated by the wings, in order to make the car quicker down the many straights, and hopefully be able to pass other cars.

When the lights went out for the final time in 2004, Chris got possibly his best start of the season, running himself up into fourth
position into the first corner, and ahead of Reindler. For the next three laps Gilmour, Reindler and Pettit had a terrific scrap, running nose-to-tail. On the third lap, at the third chicane, Reindler got a run on Chris, and passed him, putting Chris down into fifth position. Soon afterwards at the first chicane on lap four, Pettit passed Chris,
putting him further down into sixth place. Later that lap, Pettit passed Reindler, which left Reindler directly in front of Gilmour. While Pettit drew away, Gilmour and Reindler jostled for the remainder of the 7-lap race - until the final lap. Chris Gilmour was able to execute a pass on his single rival for the
championship. However, the move would only result in a symbolic victory. With Gilmour crossing the line in fifth place, and Reindler in sixth, Chris only closed in two points, falling three points short of his
target.

Surfers Paradise crowned Karl Reindler as the 2004 champion, but Chris Gilmour did his home state proud by finishing the season in second place in the championship. The final standings of the top three drivers in the 2004 Australian Formula 3 Championship are, Karl Reindler 238 points, Chris Gilmour 235 points, and Ian Dyk 174 points. 2004 was a tremendous year for Gilmour Racing. Despite falling short at Surfers Paradise, the team achieved more than they dreamed possible at the start of the year, and are extremely proud of what they have accomplished in the eight-round season, finishing second in the national championship. To summarise Chris Gilmour's season, he finished the year with five race victories, three round victories, and two pole positions.

Gilmour Racing would like to congratulate Karl Reindler and Team BRM for their championship victory, and also thank everyone else who competed or contributed to the championship in 2004 to make this a
magnificent season. Chris Gilmour and Gilmour Racing now look firmly into the future.

Gilmour Racing would like to thank Gawler Farm Machinery and Identity Plus Embroidery in South Australia, and PM Lubricants, Revolution Racegear and Gilmour Developments in Brisbane for their support in allowing the team to compete a full, and competitive season in 2004.