Team BRM retakes the championship lead with strong performance on home ground (19/5/2008 at 3:57:27 AM) Team BRM has now won races in three of the first four rounds of the 2008 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship for the CAMS Gold Star after Nathan Caratti won his second race of the season at Mallala Raceway last weekend. Caratti won the second of two races held at the teams’ home circuit and assumed the championship lead in the process. Meanwhile, Team BRM drivers Nick Percat, John Magro and Lee Farrell all had weekends’ with plenty of very positive results. Percat (#4 Walkinshaw Performance / High Roller Energy Drink / No Fear Dallara F307 Mercedes) finished third in the outright championship class in race one and fourth in race two, whilst F3 rookie John Magro (#6 ROCKSTAR Energy Drink / Unit Clothing Dallara F307 Mercedes) posted two solid performances in a learning weekend for the young Queenslander. Team BRMs National Class campaign got back on track – following a pair of non-finishes at Oran Park’s third round - thanks to a strong and speedy performance from driver Lee Farrell. Nathan Caratti qualified second for both races at the weekend and ran strongly in race one, setting fastest lap en route to finishing in the same position he started. In race two he got the jump off the line and led the field into turn one – never headed throughout the next 14 laps to record his second race win of the 2008 championship season. Caratti now regains the lead of the championship, leading Neil McFadyen 93 points to 87. “I’m getting a bit sick of being the bridesmaid in qualifying, but race two was great,” Nathan Caratti said. ”We have probably had the fastest car for a couple of rounds and we’ve been looking for that win for a while now. It was a good weekend for us and it’s nice to win again this season.” Nick Percat’s first Gold Star class podium finish came in race one at Mallala, backing that result up with fourth in race two to continue his strong haul of points. Percat has leapt to sixth in the championship and has scored 38 points in just four races. ”We had some good pace in the car and I was able to stay out of the way and stay on the track,” he said. ”It’s nice to get a trophy for third in just my third F3 race. These cars are so different to drive compared to what I’m used to, so overall I’m very pleased with the weekend.” F3 rookie John Magro posted consistent performances in his maiden F3 weekend, working though a program of testing on Wednesday before experiencing all the possible conditions available on Friday and Saturday. Improving his times dramatically throughout the weekend, Magro’s 11th and 9th place finishes, respectively, came despite not having driven in anger in 10 months. ”It’s been a while for me,” Magro said. “It took me a while to get my brain re-accustomed to how fast these cars are and how quickly they accelerate. ”By the end of the weekend we were getting closer to the mark and our times were much better. I’m confident that with more laps I’ll be on the money, so this has been a great learning weekend. It was good to get the miles in the car.” In the F3 National Class Lee Farrell outscored points leader Chris Gilmour in both races to begin to close the gap to front of the class. Farrell finished third and second in class in the pair of racers, behind ‘Guest’ driver Karl Reindler who was making a F3 comeback in the National Class. Farrell set the fastest lap in his class in race two and after a devastating weekend at Oran Park takes added confident ahead of the series’ next round at Phillip Island. “It could have been better, and we lost points to Karl, but its nice to bounce back with some solid podiums’ after everything that happened at Oran Park,” Farrell said. ”It gets our championship back on track. I’m looking forward to getting to Phillip Island, which is a track that I’ve actually driven at before!” Team BRM manager Mark Rundle said that the weekend was of strong performances and continued forward momentum for the Adelaide-based, three-time F3 championship winning team. ”By all accounts all four cars had great weekends,” Rundle said. ”Nathan did an awesome job, Nick is again super impressive in just his second F3 round whilst John had a learning weekend and got a lot of information and miles in the car for the future. ”It was also good to have Lee bounce back from the tough round he had recently. He had a quick car and things like track position and some circumstances perhaps stopped him from getting more points, but he drove very well. ”We’re looking forward to Phillip Island. We’ve been fast there in the past and the new cars should be awesome there.” The next round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship for the CAMS Gold Star will be contested at Phillip Island on June 13 – 15.