Stanaway gives BRM first FFord win of '09 (2/6/2009 at 11:50:28 PM) A STORMING PERFORMANCE FROM 17-year-old Kiwi Richie Stanaway has helped Team BRM to the podium in round three of the 2009 Ford Genuine Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship. Competing at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania – a track where Team BRM already held the Formula Ford lap record – Stanaway qualified fifth before finishing third in race one and second in race two before holding off Scott Pye for a stunning win in race three. The Gawler Farm Machinery / Mygale SJ09 also recaptured the Symmons lap record for Team BRM, Stanaway leaving the new benchmark at 55.30s in his pursuit of the leader in race two, on Sunday. Stanaway finished second for the round and did his championship prospects no harm at all either, jumping to equal fourth place in the standings and less than 20 points from second. Whilst Stanaway had a stunning weekend, Team BRM’s other two drivers had mixed weekends. Victorian driver Ben Small’s round lasted only one session after a massive shunt on Friday did significant damage to his Mygale. Though Small walked away unscathed, the impact broke the bell housing and bent the chassis of his car, the decision made to withdraw from the weekend after not wanting to rush the repair of the car and compromise safety. South Aussie Jordan Skinner continued his steep learning curve and got closer to the leading pace in each session, finishing all three races and nearly scraping though for his first points in the finale’ – finishing 11th. The next round of the championship will take the team into uncharted territory, literally, as the Formula Ford championship heads’ to Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway on June 19 – 21. For more information please head to www.teambrm.com.au Mark Rundle – Team BRM Manager “It was an exceptional weekend, especially for Richie,” Rundle said. “It was very pleasing to break though for the first win of the year. The hard work the team has put in to build this program this year is paying off and the win was a great reward. Richie drove well all weekend and improved in every session, to the point where he twice re-set our own Symmons Plains lap record. “We’re now in the championship fight and not many points outside the top three, so it’s game on. “The team is looking forward to heading to Hidden Valley for the next round of the championship – it’s a new track for us and another opportunity to score some good points.” Richie Stanaway – Gawler Farm Machinery / Team BRM Mygale SJ09 “Wow that was a pretty awesome race,” Stanaway told the official Formula Ford website, www.formulaford.com.au “Nick, Scott and I had a great battle and it probably could have gone either way, but thankfully I had the speed to hang on at the end ... hats off though to Nick and Scott, it made for some great racing,” “We’ve finally found the speed we’ve been searching for which is confidence boosting going into Darwin ... hopefully this is the start of some bigger and better things.”