After holding third early, Italian driver Marco Mapelli ceded the podium position to a hard-charging Karl Reindler on lap four, the two BRM entries racing hard but fair around the 5.3km Albert Park circuit.
Behind them Astuti Motorsport’s Austrian ace Walter Grubmuller continued to bounce back from a disappointing start to his weekend in Melbourne by making it a five-car freight train between the top five cars as today’s race unfolded.
Reindler looked set to work his way onto the podium until the final lap, when his #4 car spun around exiting turn four, the West Australian-born 2004 Australian Formula 3 Champion barely missing the cars trailing him as he spun into an eventual seventh position.
“I had to push so hard just to stay with the guys in front, †Reindler said afterwards.
â€The back end just broke out and I spun. â€
Mapelli secured the podium finish ahead of Grubmuller and a flying James Winslow, who set the quickest lap of the race on the penultimate tour.
The British drivers’ 1m50.96s lap was just one-tenth outside the existing lap record held by Bruno Senna.
â€The clutch was slipping at the start which is why I was so slow away, †Winslow explained.
â€It’s frustrating because after that the car was fast, like it was yesterday. I’m about ready for the luck to turn around because when it does we will be hard to beat. â€
A fast-finishing Leanne Tander rebounded to finish sixth today, leading home Karl Reindler and Chris Alajajian – who was once again forced to drive from the back of the field after his late-race spin yesterday.
The continually impressive Dillon Battistini and fellow Asian F3 driver Phillip Forsman, from Sweden, completed the top ten.
It was a difficult day for a number of the visiting Asian F3 competitors, Finnish driver Henri Karjalainen (Team Goddard) coming together with his team-mate, Moreno Soeprapto, just a few laps from home.
Both finished the race but forfeited a potential top ten finish due to the accident.
In the end, however, it was Tim Macrow who took his second win from three starts this weekend in another commanding performance.
“I made a terrible start – I had too many revs and sat there with the wheels spinning for what seemed like 30-minutes, †Macrow said this afternoon.
“I started pegging Charlie back in the next couple of laps and was able to get a run on him and get by.
“It’s a fantastic feeling to get another win – it’s been a really good weekend for us and I hope to be able to make it three wins tomorrow. †He said.
Hollings was philosophical in defeat for the second time in two days.
“The car was great at the start but it just dropped off a bit at the end, †he said.
â€Tim had a bit more straight line speed than us and was able to get by. We have had two seconds and a win so it hasn’t been a bad weekend, but I’d certainly like to get back on top tomorrow. â€
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