Nathan Caratti edged to the largest margin of the 2008 Kumho Tyres Australian F3 Championship season after finishing first and second in a competitive, combative and controversial fifth round at Phillip Island, while James Winslow kept up his championship challenge with a second win of the season after again having to switch teams.
Caratti edged out Leanne Tander by less than a tenth to record a thrilling victory in race one, before charging to second in race two from seventh on the grid. Winslow, meanwhile, continued his battle to land the sponsorship necessary to maintain his pressure on Caratti at the top of the table by recovering from being taken out in race one to claim victory second time around.
After getting the best jump off the line, polesitter Tander led into turn one whilst contact set back the hopes of two leading contenders behind her soon after. Neil McFadyen made contact with the rear of Winslow's car at the entry to Honda hairpin on lap four, sending the erstwhile points leader spiralling down the order and leaving Winslow's Team BRM Dallara beached in the mud.
The safety car was called to the circuit for two laps, with Tander leading to the green flag on lap seven only to be passed by Caratti on the restart. After repassing her rival, the pair waged war for the next few laps, regularly swapping the lead in an intense dice for the lead, before Caratti finally slipped past four laps from home and withheld a concerted attack to the line to win by just 0.0695secs.
It was great to win, and it was the race I really needed to do well in because we didn't qualify well for race two, Caratti said afterwards, It was a fantastic race. I had a really great dice with Leanne for most of it it was very clean and a lot of fun. Our car had great straight-line speed, so I was able to use the tow and get past her. She didn't have so much and, once she was behind me, didn't have as good a chance at getting by. It's a great win and very important for the championship.
![Nathan Caratti - Team BRM [pic credit: Race Torque/Klynsmith]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/456435.jpg)
