Ending '08 like it started - with a win! (28/10/2008 at 7:24:34 AM) TEAM BRM has finished the 2008 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 season the way it started it – with a race win. 2008 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 champion James Winslow delivered Team BRM the final race of the year after defeating Aussie international John Martin in a dramatic third race at the weekends’ Nikon Indy 300 F3 Challenge event on the Gold Coast. The result caps off a remarkable year for the Adelaide-based, now Four-time championship winning team that has again proven its reputation as an operation dedicated to winning championships and performing strongly over the course of the season. In 18 F3 races held in Australia this year (15 championship, 3 non championship), Team BRM won nine, scored six pole positions and nine fastest laps. The team won at least one race in each round this season, bar one. Driving a car outfitted with expensive Raikkonen Robertson Macau-specification suspension, Martin started the weekend in front but methodical work from Team BRM and Winslow saw them close the gap and post a competitive performance on the demanding 4.47km street circuit. Winslow led Martin in race one and went on to finish second in that race, and the second one held on Friday. But he leapt to the lead in race three and withheld a constant challenge over the final lap to record win number six for the year and cap off his championship season on a high. Team BRM’s Nathan Caratti posted a solid performance with a pair of fifth-placed performances before being taken out of the third and final race when a car in front slowed with mechanical dramas in Caratti’s path. Caratti finished seventh for the round but running fifth – and lapping at the pace of the leaders – at the time of the race three crash. Team BRM Newcomer Zahir Ali acquitted himself well in his street circuit racing debut in a weekend where he rejoined a team that he last drove for in 2004, in Asian Formula 3. Indonesian driver Ali qualified ninth at the weekend but made progress in each race, finishing seventh in race one and sixth in race two – improving his best lap by more than two seconds in the process. In the final race a steering problem forced Ali out of the race but his constant improvement showed his capabilities in a competitive F3 field. “It was a great way to end the season, with a win against a strong field on our return to Indy,” Team Manager Mark Rundle said. ”James drove very well and the team did a great job throughout the weekend. Nathan got unlucky in the third race but adapted well to the street circuit over the weekend and had genuine pace in the third and final race. It was also great to work with Zahir again and even though he had a huge learning curve he did a good job. ”It has been a huge and very successful year for the team and we are already pushing forward with plans for 2009. The team has some big things to announce in the very near future that will position us to succeed at many levels for a long time to come.” For more information about Team BRM head to www.teambrm.com.au James Winslow “It’s a great result for us, we had a lot of pace throughout the weekend, but we just needed it all to come together in the end, and thankfully it did in this final race If I hadn’t run wide in the first race I would have won it, and so I would have won the round, so that’s a shame - but to take the win in the final race of the season is just a fantastic way to end the season! “It’s fantastic to get the win for Team BRM and a big thank you to all the guys for all their work. “We finished the season with six wins, and this is a really good way to end the year. To finish the year with a win in front of all of the IndyCar teams, and the chance to show what we can do in a Formula 3 car is excellent. “We won the championship and having a race win at Indy is just a great way to finish it off!” Zahir Ali “At the start it was quite hard because it was my first time at the track, and my first time on a street course, so I had a lot of adjusting to do. So we started off slowly and we found more speed in the qualifying session but I kept of improving in all of the sessions. “It didn’t end so well when we retired in the final race, but I gained a lot from the experience and I have to thank the team for the opportunity to drive here this weekend.” Nathan Caratti “The weekend was a bit up and down for me. We started the wrong way with the setup and didn’t have the pace we wanted. When we made the changes we needed for race two we had a bit more pace then and were able to fight for it. “Then for race three we were also up there, but unfortunately Leanne Tander had a problem with her car and we had a crash. We started the season really well, and it was great up till Eastern Creek where I should have had a clean sweep but we had a new clutch in and that upset my starts and then a few incidents after that really hurt us. “But at least we had a lot of speed during the year and if things went a little bit differently who knows what would have happened.”