AF3 Championship Round 6 Ipswich - Action Packed

 

Formula 3 rookie Lockie Marshall returned his third podium result in as many outings with a 2nd in the National class of the 2012 AF3 Championship at Ipswich on the weekend.  Following his win in Darwin and a second place at Eastern Creek, his strong showing in Queensland  puts lockie into third place in the Forpark National class championship despite missing the first three races due to a broken wrist.

In the adrenalin charged atmosphere of the V8 Supercar meeting, the official practice on Friday saw Lockie top the timesheets by the smallest of margins a mere 0.01 sec from hometown favorite Hayden Cooper.   Qualifying on Saturday morning was very tight with Cooper several tenths up on Lockie who ended the session as second fastest of the national class competitors.   A moments confusion during the closing seconds of the qualifying session saw Lockie take an extra lap much to the displeasure of the CAMS Clerk of Course, the resulting penalty being demotion to the rear of the grid and a $250 fine.   

Starting from the back of the grid,  Race 1 was a bruising affair which saw Lockie on the receiving end of several aggressive blocking moves as he challenged for the lead.   Several heart stopping touches at 200+ kph resulted in wheel rubs on the side pods of Lockie's car.  Things came to a head with Lockie's front wing being knocked askew which greatly affected the handling of his car and he was quickly overtaken by Cooper.  Despite the damage,  Lockie was able to adapt to the under-steer and hold onto 3rd place at  the close of the 16 lap race.

Race 2 was again a spirited affair with close wheel to wheel racing around the 3.1km circuit.  Mid way through the race Lockie was very lucky to miss a spinning car as it speared  back onto the track in front of him causing Lockie to himself run wide and spin at speed along the back straight of the circuit.  Fortunately Lockie was able to gather up the car performing  a high speed pirouette and continuing along the straight undeterred.   Crossing the line in second place in the national class was a great relief especially after his high speed moment on the back straight.

 Race 3, the main event, was uneventful compared to the earlier two races with Lockie starting a row behind his main rival Cooper.  The 24 lap race unfolded as a chase from the start with Lockie pressing the Queenslander although was never in a position to make a safe passing attempt  so he had to settle for 2nd in the race which gave him an overall second for the meeting in the National class.   The win secured the Forpark National class championship for Cooper with a round to spare.    Lockie was very happy with the result and commented "racing with Hayden has been close, he's a very good driver and I'm sure it would have been a ripper championship if I'd been in for the first few  rounds".  

Joining Lockie for the first time was Formula 3 engineer Chris Doumbos who's input was very helpful.  Chris worked closely with Lockie on data analysis and also provided valuable input on changes to car setup through the course of the weekend.   We would also like to thank Brad Jones Racing for their help on the weekend.      

Lockie would like to thank his sponsors LORD Chemicals, Hare & Forbes Machinery House, Ontime Distribution, Forensic Consulting,  A1 Signs,  Elf Racefuels,  Connexus,  Campbellfield Truck Services,  Kyneton Autopro, Kyneton Toyota,  Bridgestone Kyneton, Body Corp Highpoint Accident Repair Centre, Point Precision Engineering, Race Recall and Unique Marine for their support through the year.   

You can watch in-car videos from Ipswich and follow Lockie’s progress on his website www.lockiemarshall.com  or on Facebook  or via twitter at  @lockiemarshall

The latest videos are at : www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3qg2AAMAyw&feature=plcp

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                                         www.youtube.com/watch?v=27AgWU_dECI&feature=plcp