Asian Motor Sports

Adelaide’s Team BRM have finished on the podium of their first ever Ford Racing Australian Formula Ford Championship race, at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide today.

British driver Ben Clucas scored the stunning result after a frenetic 10-lap affair this afternoon, an event that was shortened to 7 laps after a crash partially blocked the circuit with three laps remaining.

After making a strong start from fourth on the grid, Clucas trailed the two leaders closely for the opening couple of laps before John Martin’s spectrum spectacularly spun in front of the Team BRM car on the third lap of the race at turn eight.

After conceding time to the leaders after having to take avoiding action, the #21 team BRM Van Diemen found itself in the lead after the dicing race leaders Tim Slade and Paul Laskazeski collided with an already stationary car with three laps remaining.

The resulting carnage was declared heavy enough to warrant a red flag, the results returning to the end of lap seven and relegating Clucas back into third in the final results.

The stunning result means that Clucas – and a Team BRM car - has now finished on the podium in every race they have contested this season, after the combination scored two wins at the Australian Formula 3 season opener at Wakefield Park three weeks ago.

Team BRM’s second driver, 22-year-old local Shane Wright, was finally able to gain some significant track time today after a disappointing run in practice thanks to a niggling fuel pressure problem that left him without any laps under his belt in the second session.

With the aim of going out and completing the race to gain as much experience as possible, Wright finished the opening race a solid 14th after working his way through the field steadily in the incident-packed affair.

In an even more impressive performance, Wright improved his best lap time for the weekend by over 1.2 seconds throughout the race, setting a time that would have seen him inside the top 20 in qualifying.

With two races tomorrow the local driver has plenty more opportunities for advancement and will start tomorrow’s second race from a competitive 14th position.

The top four cars – including Clucas – all lapped underneath the existing Adelaide Formula Ford lap record today.

Race two is scheduled for 10:45am local time tomorrow.

Final Results – Race 1 of 3
Australian Formula Ford Championship Round 1, Clipsal 500 Adelaide

1. Tim Slade
2. Paul Laskazeski
3. Ben Clucas – Team BRM
4. John Martin
5. Nathan Caratti
14. Shane Wright – Team BRM

Team BRM Driver Quotes

SHANE WRIGHT – #20 Van Diemen RF06 – Duratec (Qualifying – 22nd, Race - 14th):