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AUSTRALIAN racer Thomas Randle became the first Australian to win a British Formula 3 race since 2011, scoring his maiden championship win during Race 2 of the third round of the 2016 title at Rockingham last weekend.
The 20-year-old, from Narre Warren North, claimed the British Formula 3 victory to become the first Aussie to win a race since Scott Pye in 2011, coincidentally also at Rockingham.
Following a positive first test at the circuit, Randle qualified strongly in fourth position claiming the same spot at the end of Saturday’s opening 14-lap encounter.
Sunday’s second race of the round saw the top eight finishers from race one reversed, with Randle starting fifth; a position he would hold until a Red Flag period ensued after a major opening lap shunt saw the race halted.
On the restart, Randle made a flying getaway and sliced through the front-runners to take the lead, thereafter controlling the race to claim his maiden win by a comfortable 1.2 seconds.
“What an awesome feeling! I woke up this morning hoping that we could get a win or a podium and I just can’t thank the guys from Douglas Motorsport enough,” Randle said.
“It’s really awesome to finally get the monkey off my back and hopefully we can get some more victories real soon.
“Every track is new and I know we have heaps of strong competition, but I will keep on pushing hard to repeat this because it’s just a great feeling.”
In the final Sunday race, Randle claimed another strong fourth place, unable to repeat his mesmeric opening lap from the previous encounter.
At the completion of three of the eight championship rounds Randle is placed fourth in the title chase, just four points behind second place and 26 behind current points leader.
Next weekend it will be a race of a different kind for Randle, when he contests the annual Red Bull “Wings for Life“ charity run in Cambridge.
Round 4 of the BRDC British F3 Championship will take place at Oulton Park, during the weekend of 28 to 30 May.
