Trengove Within Striking Distance of the Gold Star Award

Round 5 of the Holden Australian Driver’s Championship was held at Mallala South Australia in cool and cloudy conditions. Paul Trengove was very keen to have his first race win on his home track and his Practice times looked promising.

After the first 30 minute practice session, Trengove was 2^nd quickest behind Jonny Reid. In second practice a strong head wind affected the cars top speeds by around 12kph. However, Paul was able to put his CPA Australia car at the top of the table ahead of Nelson Hartley and Jonny Reid.

Saturday saw early morning rain for the other categories qualifying sessions. With the Formula 4000 qualifying session approaching, the decision to run wet or dry tyres was becoming increasingly difficult. With only an hour before the session the rain came down again, but the track dried quickly. Luckily the sky cleared before the session started and qualifying produced some quicker times.

The CPA Australia team were really hoping to set their first pole position time of the season, but Trengove was having a lot of trouble getting power down out of slow turns. The team managed to qualify in 4^th position behind Reid, Hartley and Occhipinti.

Race 1 was held on Sunday in dry conditions and Hartley shot to the lead ahead of Reid, while Trengove got a great start off the line and moved into 3^rd place. Paul began experiencing what he thought was a slight gearbox problem and dropped off Hartley and Reid. He was unable to select 3^rd gear on a couple of occasions, causing Paul to slow. However the problem seemed to disappear and within 2 laps Paul was right on the back of Hartley and Reid.

Heading into turn 7, a tight right hander after a 200kph straight, Reid made an attempt to pass Hartley around the outside. However, Hartley and Reid collided, allowing Trengove to slip up the inside and move into the race lead. Reid and Hartley both rejoined in 4^th and 5^th, while Daniel Gaunt moved into 2^nd followed by Occhipinti.

Paul was increasing his lead comfortably and led for 5 laps. Then through turn 1 the 95D Reynard spun at over 160kph through turn 1. He quickly tried to rejoin the race, but was relegated to 4th, with all his hard work undone. A few laps later whilst trying to catch the main bunch Paul spun again, and dropped to 5^th, but was able to pass Kenny Smith and finish in 4^th position. After an investigation into the race, Trengove was promoted to 3^rd position behind the winner Daniel Gaunt and 2^nd placed Ricki Occhipinti.

Trengove was understandably upset after the race, throwing away a chance to win his first ever race in front of his home crowd. “ I just don’t understand what happened. I was leading comfortably and the team told me that I was building my lead every lap. The lap times show that I wasn’t pushing the car at all and I was really trying hard to stay focussed and get every corner right. Then on the approach to Turn 1, the back just flicked around and I had spun off the track.”

The data showed that Paul was travelling at the same speed as every other lap through the turn and it is thought that he spun on the oil that was being dropped from another car. Paul was shattered and needed to regain his composure for Race 2.

From 3^rd position, Trengove dropped to 5^th after the gearbox problem reappeared. For the first 3 laps, Paul was having trouble selecting 3^rd gear. This saw him drop about 5 seconds behind the front pack. Again, the problem came good and Paul started reeling in the front running cars. Jonny Reid’s car blew an engine and Paul went past into 3^rd place.

Trengove quickly caught Ricki and followed him down the back straight towards turn 7. In a fantastic move under brakes, Paul slipped down the inside to take 2^nd place and begun chasing Daniel Gaunt. With 2 laps to go Trengove had caught the leader, but was unable to make a passing move. Positions remained unchanged with Daniel Gaunt winning and Paul Trengove second.

Overall, Daniel Gaunt won the meeting, with Trengove in 2^nd. It is the 4^th consecutive podium finish for the CPA Australia team, who now trail by only 2 points for the Gold Star Award.

“I’m still very disappointed about losing the lead in the 1^st race, but to come home in 2^nd place overall is good and I’m now a real chance to win the Gold Star Award.”

The final round heads to Eastern Creek in late November.

Gallery