Briton James Winslow has extended his lead in the F3 Australian Drivers’ Championship by taking out Race 1 for the weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The R-Tek Dallara-Mercedes pilot survived a mid-race restart to fend off fellow former champions Tim Macrow and Chris Gilmour.
Macrow had beaten Winslow to the pole position by just 0.08s earlier in the day, but could not match the speed of his rival on the run to the first corner.
The win is the 25th of Winslow’s 59 race Australian Formula 3 career, and sees his points lead over Gilmour extended to 37 points.
Macrow found himself under intense pressure from Gilmour in the closing laps, but the latter proved unable to complete a pass despite twice running side-by-side with the Astuti driver through the Turn 1 sweeper.
Steel Guiliana recovered from a pitlane start to take fourth, while a determined Hayden Cooper heldout his BF Racing team-mate Ben Gersekowski to secure National Class honours in fifth.
Rounding out the field were Nathan Gotch and Lockie Marshall – the pair swapping positions when Marshall endured an off on the final lap.
It was a difficult day for R-Tek’s National Class entries of Adam Gill and Jon Collins. Gill failed to complete a lap in the race due to brake problems, while Collins was a non-starter in both qualifying and the race after suffering engine issues.
The F3 Australian Drivers’ Championship will stage a further two races tomorrow as part of the fifth round of the 2012 Shannons Nationals presented by Hi-Tec Oils.
