CONWAY JUST MISSES OUT ON RACE WIN AS TITLE IS SEWN UP

British Formula 3 Championship
Rounds 17 & 18
Nurburgring, Germany

Sevenoaks racing ace Mike Conway is aiming for second place in the British Formula 3 Championship after the title was sewn up at last weekend's round at Germany's legendary Nurburgring circuit.

The 22-year old Fortec Motorsport driver narrowly missed out on a fantastic race victory at the German Grand Prix circuit, but notched up another podium finish in second. However, although it elevated Conway back into third in the championship standings, it was not enough to stop Portuguese Alvaro Parente from taking the 2005 crown.

Toshiba-backed Conway got a stellar start from fourth on the grid in race one, and led the field into the first corner. But behind him, Estonian driver Marko Asmer locked up under braking and ran into the back of Conway's Dallara Opel-Speiss machine, pushing him wide on to the gravel.

That allowed Conway's Fortec team-mate James Walker to get alongside and, with the trip across the gravel depositing dirt on Conway's tyres, he was unable to win the drag race to the next corner, and had to allow Walker into the lead.

Thereafter, Conway put up a spirited and skilful race-long defence to keep champion-elect Parente behind him, and he took a well-earned second place. The Kent man was, however, disappointed.

"We should have had a race win in that one," he lamented afterwards. "I had the lead, and the car was set up brilliantly. Second is not a bad result, but it really should have been a win. Parente made one attempt to pass me into the first corner, but after that it was relatively easy to keep him behind me."

Another good start in race two saw Conway leap from sixth on the grid to fourth at the fourth corner, as he dived past Asmer and American Charlie Kimball in a searing opening lap. Despite his immediate thrust forwards, made all the more impressive by the fact he was on cold tyres at the start of the race, the top three had already pulled away from the rest of the field by the time Conway hit fourth.

"We made some set up changes in between races that made the car even better," said Conway. "I was certainly able to match the leaders' lap times but that's all. I wasn't able to close up on them because we were all lapping in such similar times."

With the top spot sealed, Conway is now aiming to take the runner-up spot from Kimball in the remaining four races of the season. Still only in his first season of racing in the prestigious British F3 Championship, this would still be a major achievement for Conway, who is confident he can demote the American.

"I just need to go for the all-out wins from now on," he explained. "Nothing else will do now. But we've got Mondello Park and Silverstone left on the calendar and our car is very good around both of those circuits, so wins are definitely possible."

Having pulled back 10 points on Kimball at the Nurburgring, Conway is now just 31 points behind the American. His next outing in the British F3 series will be at Irish track Mondello Park on September 17/18.

Media contact: Andy Bothwell 07944 651166