Cameron Shields Wins Out West

Toowoomba’s Cameron Shields has claimed overall victory in the CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship’s first visit to Barbagallo Raceway.

The CAMS Foundation Rising Star ahead of West Australian Nick Rowe in Sunday’s scintillating third and final race to win by 1.3 seconds, and to be 12 points clear over Rowe to win the round.

“It’s been absolutely amazing this weekend. The team has done an exceptional job setting the car up. To come back from a bit of a slow start to the season in Round One and Two, it’s really good to finally be now on the top step,” Shields said.

“We’re really looking forward to Phillip Island. The team has had plenty of success there in previous years, and certainly one of my favourite tracks to race on so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Rowe, who was penalised in Race One for jumping the start, won Sunday’s Race Two but narrowly missed out on a home round win.

“Shouldn’t have made the mistake! But that’s alright, we’ll move on,” Rowe said.

“I can’t thank the boys from AGI Sport enough, they did an amazing job as always. We’ll move on to Phillip Island and hopefully get another win.”

Crucially, his championship rival and leader Liam Lawson encountered a technical problem which saw the New Zealander drop from a podium position to ninth in the Sunday finale.

Lawson remains the Championship leader on 164 points, four ahead of Rowe with Cameron Shields fast catching up with 121 points.

Zagame Autosport’s Tyler Everingham enjoyed a breakthrough weekend to place third in both Race Three and the overall Round Three podium.

“It’s great to finally get a good result out of a weekend. After having a shocker at the first two rounds. It was very hard to gain and pass here due to severe tyre wear, and the track changing between sessions,” Everingham said.

“They’ve done a really good job, obviously! The car’s been very good, very competitive, but I still need to refine some stuff and improve.”

West Australian Aaron Love claimed local honours as the Burson Auto Parts Rookie of the Round winner for the second consecutive round by finishing fifth in Race Three.

“Had to work really hard in the last race, especially after a couple of poor results in Race One and Race Two. Especially at this track, track position means a lot because it’s just so close here,” Love said.

“It was very slippery out there. You had to keep the car very controlled, keep it straight and to get on the power quick enough to get the run to then pass people. Certainly starting to get the hang of it, but further races to come…”

Ryan Suhle remains as Burson Auto Parts Rookie leader with 77 points over Love’s 52 and Jordan Mazzaroli’s 44.

Shields’ round win is the first for a CAMS Foundation Rising Star, after Shields broke through on Saturday as the programme’s first race winner of 2017.

“I’m very honoured to be the first CAMS Foundation Rising Star to take out a round and race victory. Also knowing some of the success from previous Rising Stars, it’s very encouraging and hopefully I can keep on continuing,” Shields said.

AGI Sport’s Sage Murdoch enjoyed a career best eighth place in Race Three, as he finished ahead of Lawson and teammate Zak Best in the final points paying positions.

Round Four of the 2017 CAMS Jayco Australian Formula 4 Championship will next visit the much loved open-wheel circuit of Phillip Island as part of the 100^th round for the Shannons Nationals on May 26–28.

Race Three Results
1^st: Cameron Shields – Team BRM
2^nd: Nick Rowe – AGI Sport: +1.3016
3^rd: Tyler Everingham – Zagame Autosport: +1.5465
4^th: Josh Denton – Team BRM: +2.2801
5^th: Aaron Love – Team BRM: +3.7679
6^th: Simon Fallon – Team BRM: +6.2016
7^th: Zane Morse – Team BRM: +6.8985
8^th: Sage Murdoch – AGI Sport: +8.2162
9^th: Liam Lawson – Team BRM: +10.2306
10^th: Zak Best – AGI Sport: +10.5212
11^th: Jordan Mazzaroli – JRD: +10.6237
12^th: Harley Haber – AGI Sport: +12.8811
DNF: Ryan Suhle – Zagame Autosport

Round Three Results
1^st: Cameron Shields: 60
2^nd: Nick Rowe: 48
3^rd: Tyler Everingham: 45
4^th: Liam Lawson: 42
5^th: Josh Denton: 37
6^th: Aaron Love: 14
7^th: Simon Fallon: 14
8^th: Zane Morse: 13
9^th Jordan Mazzaroli: 12
10^th: Ryan Suhle: 12
11^th: Sage Murdoch: 4
12^th: Zak Best: 2
13^th: Harley Haber: 0

Championship Points
1^st: Liam Lawson: 164
2^nd: Nick Rowe: 160
3^rd: Cameron Shields: 121
4^th: Josh Denton: 94
5^th: Ryan Suhle: 77
6^th: Tyler Everingham: 68
7^th: Aaron Love: 52
8^th: Jordan Mazzaroli: 44
9^th: Harley Haber: 34
10^th: Simon Fallon: 31
11^th: Zak Best: 28
12^th: Zane Morse: 24
13^th: Sage Murdoch: 6