RACE REPORT – AGI Sport heads to Mount Panorama for Round 2 of the Kumho Cup
The AGI Sport Team travelled to Mount Panorama, Bathurst last week for the 3rd round of the Australian Formula 3 Championship / Round 2 of the Kumho Cup Formula 3 Championship.
Practice:
The practice session on Friday morning would see most drivers struggling to generate enough heat into the Kumho tyres. The new track surface combined with an early morning session would see relatively slow lap times as the drivers learnt the daunting 6.213km circuit. AGI Sport Team driver Nathan Gotch was fastest in class in his 2004 model Dallara F3 car.
Qualifying:
Qualifying saw the 07 model Dallara of Ricky Capo meet the concrete barriers over the crest of Skyline corner, the session was red flagged after only 3 laps. It did go green again with only minutes remaining but again was cut short after Roland Legge spun and beached his F304 Dallra on the ripple strip coming onto the front straight. Nathan Gotch was quickest of the Kumho Cup class runners in the shortened qualifying session.
Race 1
Gotch made a good start in Race 1 while Legge and Rumble fell back in the early laps still grappling with the iconic mountain circuit. Nathan had a 15 second lead over the other Kumho Cup runners by lap 2 and continued to lap at a safe pace to ensure the class win by the end of the 12 lap race.
Up front in the outright class it was Chris Anthony, Ben Gersekowski, and Stephen Hodge claiming the podium places.
Race 2
Sundays race would see Nathan Gotch get boxed in at the start after a poor start from the row ahead. Legge passed Gotch into Turn 1 so the chase was on! By lap 3 Gotch got a run on Legge going up Mountain straight and re-took the class lead into turn 2. Legge reacted on the same lap and got the slip stream down Conrod Straight and got alongside Gotch into the braking zone at ‘The Chase’. Legge went for a move around the outside exiting the corner and they both collided. Legge spun and got going again while Nathan suffered a bent front steering rod and damaged wheel. A disappointing end to a close battle for the Kumho Cup honours.
Up front in the outright class it was Chris Anthony who would win Sundays 12 lap race with Stephen Hodge in his 2011 model Mygale chassis resetting the outright lap record with a 2.02.67 on route to third place.
Keep an eye out for an upcoming episode on SBS’s Speedweek show for interviews and footage of Nathan and all the drivers in the 2014 Australian Formula 3 Drivers Championship.
The next event for the AGI Sport Team will be the first round of the NSW Excel Racing Championships at Wakefield Park on the 27th April 2014.
