MEDIA RELEASE- For Immediate Release, March 4

ALAJAJIAN CLAIMS FIRST F3 POLE POSITION

It was a successful Saturday afternoon at Wakefield Park for Sydney resident Chris Alajajian in the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship for the CAMS Gold Star, scoring his first Formula 3 pole position.

Ensuring it was a strong day, Alajajian will start both races in the opening round of the championship from the front row of the grid.

With a workmanlike start to the 2006 motorsport season in Friday’s practice sessions behind them, Alajajian and the insight F3 team entered the day’s pair of qualifying sessions at the Goulburn circuit.

In the opening session, Alajajian steered the Jack Hillermans Smash Renault-Sodemo Dallara F304 to the second fastest time - 55.1210 seconds - behind British import Ben Clucas.

“We arrived feeling confident today of getting a good result,” said Alajajian, “but we went into the first qualifying session not knowing exactly what the outcome would be.

"The first session went well, we would’ve liked to have been first, but second was a strong result.”

Alajajian and Clucas had a session-long duel in qualifying two, swapping fastest times around the 2.2km circuit.

At the end of the 20-minute session, the top of the qualifying one timesheets had been reversed; Alajajian claimed pole position with a time of 54.9283 seconds. The pole position is the first of Alajajian’s F3 career.

“Between sessions, we sat down as a team, discussed the car and thought about changes we could make to improve for the second session,” he said.

“We decided on some setup changes for the car, and some changes to my driving style around the circuit.

“During the session, we worked our way into a rhythm and had a clean run. The changes that we made helped us to find some time and it came together well.

“It’s great to score pole position for race two. A big thanks to Jack, my Dad, and the insight guys for helping it all come together.

“Now we’ll do some more work tonight to make sure we have a good race car.”

Tomorrow, it is a pair of 20 lap races. The first is scheduled to commence at 10:45am, and the second at 2:05pm.

In the corresponding round of 2005 at Wakefield Park, Alajajian scored his first Formula 3 race win and left the round with a share of the championship lead.

Chris Alajajian thanks the ongoing support of Jack Hillermans Smash, Subaru Australia, Elf Oil, insight F3, Scuderia Veloce Motors, Nudie, Workflow Systems, Bilstein, Moody Kiddell & Partners, Travel Café, Heasman Steering and Disc Brakes Australia.

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

Wakefield Park Qualifying 1
1. Ben Clucas - 54.5968 seconds
2. Chris Alajajian - 55.1210
3. Michael Trimble - 55.4122

Wakefield Park Qualifying 2
1. Chris Alajajian - 54.9283
2. Ben Clucas - 55.0044
3. Michael Trimble - 55.3587

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