The 18-year-old Austrian set a new lap record at the China venue and scored two podium finishes from the three races, a haul that might have been even better but for his inexperience in the tricky art of getting a Formula 3 car off the start line.
Grubmuller’s impressive display was mirrored by Aran Racing’s other teenage star, Philip Forsman who began his first full season in F3 with a fine second place finish in the third round of the series.
Grubmuller started race one from the front row of the grid having vied for fastest time throughout mid week testing and the half hour of qualifying. His qualifying performance was nullified, however, when the black art of matching revs to the tiny clutches that Formula 3 cars use eluded him and he dropped to fifth by the first corner.
Grubmuller was soon on a charge and by the chequered flag had closed to within a couple of seconds of runner up Oliver Turvey the McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award winner. At the flag Grubmuller was third and had the considerable consolation of recording fastest lap on the final tour, more than eight tenths of a second faster than the next quickest driver.
Forsman improved one place on his qualifying performance to finish fifth, netting a very solid points scoring finish in the first round of the 12 round series.
Grubmuller managed to hold position on the run to the first corner in round two but ceded third place to Dillon Battistini on the first lap and had to face some robust defending from the Englishman before finally finding a way past on lap five.By then race leader Henri Karjalainen and Turvey had made good their escape and despite closing up in the latter stages and further improving on his own lap record, Grubmuller had to be content with another third place at the flag.
Forsman had a relatively quiet race to finish fifth but it was the Swede who would score Aran Racing’s best result of the weekend when he raced through to a fine second place in round three. Grubmuller retired early in the damp conditions, when Battistini drove into to him when he passed him for the lead, he retired with a broken drive shaft as Forsman joined in at the front of a hectic dice for the lead with Turvey,Karjalainen and Battistini. Forsman kept his head to finish close behind Indonesian A1GP driver Moreno Soeprapto in third place and was elevated to second when Turvey was penalised for over aggressive driving.
All in all a dramatic and satisfying beginning to the Asian F3 Pacific series for Aran Racing. The next event on the schedule is the highlight of the year, when the Asian F3 Pacific series races three times on the support card of the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne on March 15th to 18th.
Asian F3 Pacific Championship Calendar
Rounds 1-3, January 20-21, Zhuhai Circuit, China
Rounds 4-6, March 15-18, Melbourne F1 GP
Rounds 7-9, May 5-6, Sentul Circuit, Indonesia
Rounds 10-12, July 7-8, Zhuhai Circuit, China
-ENDS-
For further information contact Georgie Francis on +35387411803 in association: with Aviation Display and Magnum Airdynamics,
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