Trengove’s consistency earns him 3^rd at the Island.

Round 3 of the Australian Holden Driver’s Championship was held at Phillip Island on the 4^th-6^th of July.  Coming off a Round Win at Winton only a month earlier, big things were expected of the CPA Australia team. However, due to a lack of funds, the team is unable to participate in testing the week before the events.

First Practice on the Friday proved how valuable testing can be. The team struggled with its early setup and Paul’s confidence was not quite there after not having driven the car for 6 weeks.  Second Practice and the team were closer to the front, but still a long way behind. The team hoped that a few setup changes would see the car closer to the front.

Saturday was qualifying and whilst the weather was clear and sunny, the Island experienced very strong winds. This led to a tail wind down the straight and during qualifying the Formula 4000 was reaching the rev limiter at 252kph halfway down the straight. Others were prepared for this and this showed in the times, with Paul losing a lot of time down the straight. Not only this, but towards the end of the session the team suffered Fuel Pressure problems which saw the car stranded on the track.

After qualifying in 7^th , the team drove back to Melbourne that night to borrow a taller gear for the race. The team also decided to reduce downforce on the car to provide a higher top speed.

Race 1 began with Paul jumping off the line from 7^th into 5^th position. Ricky Occipinti led the way after an overnight engine change. However the replacement engine did not last more than a lap. It expired leaving oil all over the track. The next lap round a competitor tried to pass Trengove under brakes, but spun on the slippery surface right in front of Paul. Luckily Trengove was able to avoid the collision and continued on. 

Now into 4^th position, Paul was making ground on Terry Clearihan who was running 3^rd. However behind the lead group a huge accident involving Chris Hocking and Ian Peters, saw Hocking upside down around the fast final turn of the track. The safety car was brought out while the mess was cleaned up. Just as the cars were on their final safety car lap, Christian Jones made an ambitious attempt to keep his tyres warm down pit straight and crashed straight into the pit wall.

With another mess to clean up the race was declared meaning Nelson Hartley won from Clearihan and then Trengove in 3^rd. “ Although I’m very pleased to walk away with 3^rd place, the race itself was the strangest I’ve been involved with. Only 2 race laps and then to see someone hit the wall hard under safety car was a bit of a shock.”

Race 2 saw Paul start from 3^rd position, but unfortunately Paul did not get a good start and dropped to 5^th. Paul was again stuck behind Clearihan and the front bunch moved away. However on the 3^rd Lap, Jonny Reid’s engine let go and left a large amount of oil over Lukey Heights. Both Clearihan and Trengove were caught out and both nearly spun off the track on the slippery surface, but survived.

With only 2 laps to go Trengove got a great run out of Southern Loop and was able to make an outside passing manoeuvre through Honda Corner. Across the finish line saw Nelson Hartley win again followed by Daniel Gaunt and Paul Trengove in 3^rd. Paul also finished 3^rd Overall for the Round.

“Im really happy with the way the weekend turned out. I really wasn’t on the pace at all this weekend. So to walk away with 3^rd place was a real credit to the team for maintaining such a good car. It became a battle of the fittest out there and I was glad the car was good enough”

“Winton is the next round and I really want to do well there after winning overall there in Round 2. Missing Round 1 will still make it hard to win the Championship, but it is still possible.”

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