Jack Doohan and Calan Williams
Jack Doohan and Calan Williams have backed up their solid outings in France with another set of impressive performances during the FIA Formula 3 Championship’s third round of the 2021 season.
With the championship holding three races across the weekend, it was Doohan who got the better start of the two, finishing Saturday’s two races with a podium and a top 10.
A tough qualifying session saw Williams with a lot of work to do on Saturday and the first race was made even harder when he was squeezed out of a corner on lap one of the first race, dropping four places as a result before receiving a post-race penalty.
Despite finishing race one in P16, Williams was the highest placed finisher for his team, before gaining a place during the second race of the weekend to grab P15.
In Sunday's feature race, Williams managed to secure his third points finish for the season with ninth overall, while Doohan had a race to forget as an intense battle for fifth place saw him collide with Jak Crawford.
The incident saw Doohan drop down to last where he finished before a post-race penalty of 10 seconds added insult to injury.
With Championship leader Dennis Hauger securing a win and two podiums and Frederik Vesti grabbing a win and podium himself, Doohan now sits in third place – 43 points off the leader and two points off Vesti.
The next round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship will be at the Hungaroring in Hungary on 31 July – 1 August.
Matt Campbell
Matt Campbell’s first outing in the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship since March has seen the Queenslander pick up a class podium in the Watkins Glen WeatherTech 240.
Racing alongside Frenchman Mathieu Jaminet in the WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19, the duo had it tough through the race in the Grand Touring Le Mans class, trailing two Corvette Racing entries for much of the race.
After the two hour and 40 minute outing came to a close, the duo ended up one lap behind their closest class rival, while also securing an amicable P16 outright.
Jordan Love
West Australian Jordan Love found himself back behind the wheel this weekend, racing alongside German Lance David-Arnold in the latest round of the 2021 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe season at Misano in Italy.
Running in the SPS automotive performance prepared Mercedes-AMG GT3, Love had plenty of pace throughout the weekend and started strong in qualifying - his sessions in the car seeing the team in outright top 10, before a tyre management strategy saw them end up P20.
When it came to the opening race, a chaotic start saw all 30 cars jostling for positions and Love back into the top 10. However when the team attempted an early pitstop, they lost time and dropped down the order, although Lance-David recovered to get the car 16th outright and seventh in class.
It was a much tougher experience for the series’ second race of the round – the duo qualifying in P25 and last for the class.
However the drivers remained composed and made up some positions, eventually reaching the chequered flag 21st outright and eighth in class.
Will Power
Will Power has had another forgettable round in the 2021 NTT Indycar Series season after being unable to finish the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio
The Queenslander had enjoyed a promising start to the weekend, qualifying in fourth place, before an unfortunate turn of events saw him retire after just three laps.
Fighting for position against Scott Dixon after a chaotic start to the race, Power then had his wheels clipped by the New Zealander which sent him spinning and stuck in the middle of the track. Stalled on the middle of the track. Power was then hit by an oncoming Ed Jones who couldn’t avoid the Australian.
The incident saw both cars out of the race and Power lose more ground to the top 10 on the series standings.
Three-time Repco Supercars Champion Scott McLaughlin suffered far less drama throughout the race, finishing in P12 - two places higher than when he started.
Power and the NTT Indycar Series will enjoy a midseason break before returning next month for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on 8 August.
Alex Peroni
Power wasn’t the only Australian to struggle in Ohio over the weekend with Alex Peroni also unable to find much consistency in the IndyLights.
The Tasmanian had a promising start, going fastest in the first test session of the weekend, but that is as good as it got for him as he qualified in P10 for both races.
It didn’t get any easier when it came to the racing either, with the tough circuit making it difficult for anyone to pass - Peroni gaining just one position in both race one and two.
While he got to within a second of the eighth placed Robert Megennis in race two, it was still a disappointing weekend overall for Peroni who dropped down to ninth in the standings.
Like Power, Peroni now has an extended break with the next round taking place on 20-21 August at Gateway Motorsports Park in Illinois.
