RACE REPORT – AGI Sport leads the Kumho Cup after Round 1.

 

 

The AGI Sport F3 Team kicked off its racing season for 2014 last weekend at Sandown Raceway.  The Melbourne circuit played host to round 1 of the CAMS Nationals series featuring the second round of the Australian Formula 3 Championship and 1st round of the new for 2014 Kumho F3 Cup.

 

The Kumho Cup has been introduced as part of the Australian Formula 3 Championship and caters for Formula 3 vehicles built between 2002 and 2004. It will be contested in 2014 over four ‘East Coast’ rounds including Sandown, Bathurst, Sydney Motorsport Park and the Homebush Street race supporting the V8 Supercars.

AGI Sport entered its F304 Dallara with team driver Nathan Gotch behind the wheel. It was a first for both team and driver at the 3.1km Sandown circuit.

 

AGI Sport driver Nathan Gotch qualified 2nd in class and 9th outright.

Race 1:

With Kumho Cup class fastest qualifier Roland Legge making a slow getaway it was Nathan Gotch who would lead the class into the first corner and for the majority of the race. A spin at the end of the back straight for outright contender Ricky Capo late in the race would see some of the advertising markers thrown onto the circuit and the racing line. With Capo reversing across the circuit and the Kumho Cup class cars fast approaching, Gotch went to avoid the Capo car and struck one of the advertising boards sending both board and car off the circuit. Nathan was able to reverse and get himself back on track but the off-track excursion meant the R-Tek Motorsport car of Roland Legge was able to take the class win. Up front it was Ben Gersekowski in his 2011 model Dallara taking his first outright win after his 74th race in the series.

Race 2:

A broken driveshaft on the warm-up lap for the R-Tek Motorsport car of Roland Legge would see Nathan Gotch take a relatively straight forward win in Race 2 of the Kumho Cup.  The Alpine Motorsport Dallara F3 of Dennie Rumble would finish in 2nd.

 

Race 3:

With double points on offer for the longer Race 3 Feature Race the battle was on between Gotch and Legge for Kumho Cup honours. Having won Race 2, AGI Sport driver Nathan Gotch had the higher grid position and lead the class into turn 1 when the lights went green. By lap 3 Legge had closed the gap to Gotch and both drivers were ‘nose-to-tail’ for the next 15 laps. With 2 laps to go, and a small brake lock up from the #66 car coming onto the back straight, Legge got the run on Gotch and held the inside line into turn 9. Legge would lead the class and take the win by less than 3 tenths of a second over Gotch. It was a nail-biting race to the finish and hugely enjoyable to watch.

AGI Sport driver Nathan Gotch now leads the Kumho Cup F3 class by one point over Roland Legge.

 

Ben Gersekowski won all 3 races in the outright class with a dominant display in his 2011 Dallara F3.

The action from Sandown can be caught on the SBS Speedweek program in the coming weeks.

 

The next event will be the Bathurst Motor Racing Festival on April 18-22 at the Mount Panorama circuit, one of the legendary tracks on the calendar providing plenty of thrills and spills.