MEDIA RELEASE- For Immediate Release, November 4

A FRIDAY OF FINE TUNING FOR ALAJAJIAN

Protecnica Racing’s Chris Alajajian today made the best of trying start to the penultimate round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship for the CAMS Gold Star at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway.

Running on tyres that had seen better days, the team spent the day running within their limits, and working as best they could on car setup in preparation for qualifying and the races.

In the first of today’s two practice sessions, Alajajian steered the Jack Hillermans Smash Renault-Sodemo Dallara F304 to a time of 1:27.1589 and seventh fastest in the Australian Formula 3 record field.

Between the first and the second sessions, a shower of rain passed over the western Sydney circuit. It was dry again by the time practice two got underway, but it washed the track clean and ensured a slower session. Alajajian was eighth, with a time of 1:27.4699.

“We are really just playing with the setup at the moment,” said the Sydneysider, who currently sits third in the championship.

“There isn’t a lot we can do today, because of the really old tyres we have got. All four tyres are from different tracks, and have lots of laps on them so they haven’t been too good to run on.

“So we have just been trying to work around it and do what we can. We have been spending a lot of time analysing and discussing the data and setup that we do have, and possible changes to make.”

Despite the frustrating day, Alajajian, 19, feels it looks promising for the remainder of the weekend.

“Everything considered, I’m pretty happy with the day, we took it pretty easy and made a bit of progress.

“From the work that we have done today, the car should be OK when we have new tyres to put on it tomorrow morning. The times at the top of the field are very close, so we’ll have to work very hard to make up for the lost time from today.

“We'll just wait and see how the car is in qualifying when we can run a new set of tyres and go from there.”

Tomorrow, the Formula 3 field have a pair of qualifying sessions, at 1:00pm and 4:05pm, which will set the grids for Sunday’s thirteen lap races at the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Australia event.

Protecnica Racing thanks the ongoing support of Jack Hillermans Smash, Elf Oil, Scuderia Veloce Motors, Nudie, Workflow Systems, Bilstein, Moody Kiddell & Partners, Heasman Steering, Disc Brakes Australia, Hawk Performance, Monza Mens Boutique, H & R Springs and APT Signs.

For more about Chris Alajajian, check out www.TheChris.com.au

-end-

Media Resources ::

Sydneysider Chris Alajajian will this weekend race infront of his homecrowd in the penultimate round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship for the CAMS Gold Star at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway. (Copyright free for editorial use, click for high-res)