The fight for the 2009 Formula 3 Australian Driver’s Championship has reached a new level of intensity after two race wins under the Queensland sun lifted Tim Macrow to the joint-lead of the points race with Joey Foster.

The ever growing outright battle between Englishman Foster and Victorian Macrow reached its zenith in race one this morning as the pair staged an almighty duel for the win.

Macrow eventually fought off attack after attack by Foster to record the victory and then backed it up with a more straightforward drive in the second race to take out both 12-lap affairs, the first time he has ever won both races in an F3 round during his glittering career.

A pair of seconds, coupled with his race one pole position, was enough to ensure that Foster retains a share of the championship lead as the Gold Star fight heads to Oran Park in just five days time.

“It was a great weekend for us, really the ideal result,” Macrow said.

“Race one was intense. At one stage I ran off the track at turn two and was bouncing through the dirt but there was no way I was going to lift!

“That little trip broke the suspension at the back and made the car really hard to get off the corners which left me open to attack so it was a huge challenge, but in the end we got the result.

Though Foster twice finished second, he at least agreed with Macrow that the quest for the title really started now.

“It’s obvious that we would have liked to have got more points from this weekend, but that’s the way it is,” Foster said.

In the F3 National class the most competitive field of the weekend still had to face the ever impressive Tom Tweedie, who wrapped up the class this weekend.

Chris Gilmour led the class in race one before a mysterious mechanical issue struck the #17 car down just one corner from the flag, allowing 16-year-old Indonesian driver Rio Haryanto through.

Haryanto was looking good for a strong result in race two before he was given a black flag and a drive through penalty for jumping the start whilst Gilmour again failed to finish.

In the National ‘B’ Class for 2001-spec cars, Queenslander Andrew Mill, the 2008 Trophy Champion, showed impressive pace in his Scarborough Holiday Parks F301 – Spiess, mixing it on lap speed with the National Class contenders.

UK-based South African driver Peter Kalpakiotis finished second on two occasions on his visit to Australia to race.

The next round of the Formula 3 Australian Driver’s Championship for the CAMS Gold Star award will be contested at Oran Park Raceway next week (Aug. 28 – 30) with the Shannons Nationals.

Source: Australian Formula Three Association