Ben Clucas has marked himself out as the driver to beat in this year's Kumho Tyres Australian Formula Three Championship after taking two dominant victories in the first round at Wakefield Park.
Both races proved to be easy for the British driver, taking his Team BRM car to a three second lead after just three laps in the first race, reaching the chequered flag by a sizeable five second margin. The second race was even more of a walkover with Clucas finishing some ten seconds ahead of the competition.
Clucas, who also managed two fastest laps, was delighted to have made such an impressive debut. "Apart from the second qualifying session it was the perfect weekend," Clucas enthused.
"It went perfectly. I was very pleased with the consistency I had in both races today. The last thing you want to do is start the championship with a non-finish, so to start with two wins is better than I could imagine."
A third and a second place result for Michael Trimble saw him slot behind Clucas in the early standings and although the Astuti Motorsport Dallara driver was not able to match his rivals brutal pace, the 21-year-old is nonetheless encouraged by his first meeting.
"To be honest, we ended the weekend how we would have liked to start it," he said. "The pace was good in the final race and we are still improving so I'm quite happy with the weekend. We've got a strong haul of points to kick the championship off and build on at the next round."
Race two pole sitter Chris Alajajian endured a mixed weekend, the Insight F3 Dallara driver chasing Clucas home in the first race but spinning off early on in the second, dropping him down to sixth place by the finish line.
"I had focused on warming the brakes up on the warm up lap," said Alajajian. "Unfortunately going into turn two the rear brakes locked and I spun. There was a lot of dirt and dust on the circuit from a previous race and once I hit that I was gone.
