Open Wheel — 20 May 2008


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TanderSport has won for the second time in as many rounds as Leanne Tander pieced together her best ever Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship round, at Mallala Raceway near Adelaide.

Tander scored a pole position, a race win and more points than any other driver at the weekend to fly back into championship contention after a 30-point turnaround in the last two rounds.

Leanne won her first race of the season at Oran Park three weeks ago and yesterday backed up that performance with a light-to flag win from pole position at Mallala.

Tander held of championship rival Nathan Caratti for most of the race and eventually won by 1.2 seconds.

This came after she took pole for the race on Saturday in wet conditions by over one second – her most dominating qualifying performances in F3 yet and her third pole position of the season.

After qualifying third for race two, in the dry, Tander charged from fourth place at the end of lap one to second 14 laps later, setting the races’ fastest lap and finishing one second behind the race leader.

She scored 37 points for the race weekend and flew to within 8 points of the championship leader with half the season still remaining.

Now seven races (four rounds) into the 2008 Championship, Leanne is en route towards her best ever F3 season – having already won two races, scored three pole positions and a fastest lap; By comparison at the same point last year she had only one of each and was still building towards her eventual championship challenge.

The next round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship will be held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit between June 13 – 15, the circuit the scene of two wins for Tander last year.

TanderSport will make further announcements concerning their anticipated multi-car driver line-up prior to the round.
Leanne Tander – #42 TanderSport Dallara F307 – Mercedes Benz.

”It was a great weekend, my best ever, and I’m very pleased with how the season has been shaping up of late!

“(Race 1) was the perfect race for us. The car was excellent and it allowed me to do what I needed to do to keep the win. I’ve said often that I need to win races to win the championship and that’s what I’ve done two rounds in a row.

“It’s pleasing that I’ve won here – I’ve now won at two tracks that I’ve never won at before, which is great.

”In race two we had a car that was capable of winning but after starting on the second row of the grid we had to make sure we scored as many points as possible and aimed to move forward. The new AP Brakes on the car helped us pass people and we got second place and the fastest lap, which was a great result in the end.

“I had set a target of being within 10 points of the series’ leader after this round, which we have achieved. With Phillip Island next things are looking good for us.”

Garth Tander – TanderSport team co-owner / Team Manager

”I’m really pleased with the performance from the team and Leanne this weekend; it’s been a great one for TanderSport and the best F3 weekend for the team yet.

”We adapted very well to the different conditions throughout the weekend and race one was as good as it gets for a win. We had the pace in race two but because we didn’t qualify on the front row we got muscled wide at turn one and had to come from fourth. We got the fastest lap and proved that we have had the speed all weekend long.

”We entered the round 27 points off the lead and now we’re 8 points off, but it’s also been good to win at a couple of tracks (Oran Park and now Mallala) that we hadn’t won at before – it shows that Leanne’s not just a Phillip Island specialist.

”Having said that it’s great to be heading to Phillip Island next as Leanne has won two of the last four races there.”

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