Mansell, Ninovic, Quimby on the pace

It has been a busy and successful period of success for a string of Aussies racing overseas led by Christian Mansell in an unbelievable Formula 3 finale.

Mansell secured an impressive fifth place in the FIA Formula 3 championship with a fifth podium of 2024 having had to fight desperately for it.

The Australian ART driver found himself in the thick of a titanic title fight that went down to the final lap between Leonardo Fornaroli and Gabriele Mini.

After a disappointing Sprint race for Mansell, who suffered an electrical gremlin on the formation lap, the Newcastle driver was determined to finish the season on a high in the Feature.

Not only was Mansell racing for personal pride and a memorable podium, but he became a key player in the title fight with Mini and Fornaroli squabbling around him.

It all came down to the final lap where Mansell was the meat in the championship-deciding sandwich with Fornaroli needing to get past the Australian.

He had a first crack at the Turn 4-5 chicane, but could not stop himself and forced both drivers to go off.

It all went down to the very last corner with Mini weaving his way down the final straight, but this did not stop his Trident rival from going for it.

Fornaroli sent it down the inside of Mansell at the fast Curva Parabolica and remained fully committed to steal third from the Aussie, who ended up running wide.

Leonardo Fornaroli celebrates his F3 title glory. Photo by Simon Galloway / LAT Images

With Fornaroli following home Mini, the Trident driver snatched the championship in the most thrilling circumstances.

In the end it was arguably the best result as Mini ended up being disqualified post race with his tyres running below the minimum tyre pressures.

Mansell was also a big winner, being promoted to a fifth podium of brilliant 2024 where he rose from 12th in 2023.

“It was an exciting way for us to end a really positive year. We’ve had an amazing season at times, and kept ourselves in the title hunt up until the final round which showed our steps forward,” Mansell said.

“Qualifying was frustrating and Saturday we had an electrical issue (but) Sunday was much more like it.

“We had great pace for most of the race and made it count on track, then we all levelled out and I found myself right in the middle of the title fight, so I also had that to think about on the final lap.”

Alex Ninovic has continued his stellar British F4 season, this time taking another win and a podium in the four race outing at Donington in the East Midlands.

Alex Ninovic flying at Donington Park.

The young Aussie entered the eighth round affair requiring just one podium to equal the record for Australian driver podiums in the steppingstone British series, – which stood at 15 – held by the now McLaren F1 race winner Oscar Piastri in 2017.

Ninovic not only equalled it with a strong drive-from-behind race win in the opener from the second row, but surpassed that tally with a second place in the finale.

That took his race win tally to four to go alongside his 12 podiums, nine of which came in a streak stretching over four rounds from Snetterton to Zandvoort, which leaves him second in the pointscore.

To equal Piastri’s win record of six, he has six races at Silverstone and Brands Hatch remaining.

The next best record for an Aussie was the recently announced Alpine F1 driver Jack Doohan, who took nine podiums and three wins in 2018.

After Race 1, the quietly spoken and measured #12 Rodin driver was happy to quote his win tally and described the outing. 

“Fifteen podiums with four wins…hopefully I can keep that tally going,” Ninovic beamed.

“To start from third and take first by Turn 1, I’m pretty happy with that. We had safety cars coming in and out until the final minutes, where I managed to pull a gap…it was five minutes of precision.

“At the moment we’re a fair way behind in the championship after some unlucky results previously, but I’m looking to maximise every race I can…I’m not really looking to hold back and play it safe, I’m pushing hard.”

He now returns to Silverstone on September 21-22, where last time out he scored a hat-trick of podiums at the GP circuit.

Aussies Daniel Quimby, Connor Roberts and Nicolas Stati celebrate hard on the podium.

It is an all Australian fight for the title in the Formula 4 United States Championship with one round remaining, after Daniel Quimby completed a hat-trick of lights-to-flag wins at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Making it a season high five-win year for the Sydney-sider, his dominance shut the title gap to just  five points to fellow Aussie Nicolas Stati, whilst third place was also occupied by Connor Roberts, making it three youngsters from Oz vying for the championship.

The only other podium outside of those three went to Kiwi youngster Alex Crosbie, who alongside Stati races for the Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport team.

But for Quimby, his satisfying sweep makes for a tense final round at the Circuit of the America’s on October 31 – November 3.

“It was an awesome weekend, both Connor and Nicolas, and everyone was pretty quick this weekend. Atlantic Racing Team did a great job; the car’s been awesome,” Quimby said. 

Roberts ended the weekend with a third and back-to-back second plays, whilst the championship leader, Stati, went second, fourth, and third across the three outings.

There were more Aussie podiums in the southern part of the globe, with two drivers featuring on the steps in both Japan and India.

Jesse Lacey managed his third Japanese Formula Regional Championship podium of the year at Motegi, keeping up his good form after winning in Okayama in the round prior.

His third place in Race 2, and a fourth and sixth in the corresponding races either side, have him third in the title race with four races remaining, all at Fuji Speedway across September and October.

And in the F4 India Championship, former Aussie FIA Formula 3 racer Hugh Barter took out his third straight series win by taking Race 1 in the unique night race on the Chennai Street circuit.

After two rounds, Barter holds the title lead by 14 points over South African Aqil Alibhai, as he hopes to emulate Cooper Webster in becoming the second straight Australian to claim the South East Asian title with his next outing at the Kari Motor Speedway on September 13-15.

Calan Williams in action behind the wheel of his BMW.

It might not have been the dominant class round that Team WRT has come to expect from Calan Williams in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, but a vital podium in France kept himself and teammate Sam De Haan in the title lead.

It’s Williams second season the #30 BMW M4 GT3 at one of the world’s leading GT teams, and he’s hoping to make it two class titles in a row after securing the Gold Drivers title in 2023.

After a long wait between Endurance rounds, the Sprint Cup returned to Magny Cours for the penultimate round, but mechanical issues after practice meant the #30 BMW didn’t qualify as high up the field as usual, finishing Race 1 22nd outright and fifth in class.

Another tough qualifying appeared to put a line through their weekend, starting 23rd on the grid and fifth in class, but a powerful drive home saw them snatch third in class and rise to fourteenth overall – their seventh podium in eight races.

“We started on the back foot following some issues on Thursday, and had to play catch up from there,” Williams said.

“Managed to get a podium in Race 2 which was a good way to end the weekend, as it’s been a tough one for us!

“The crew did a mega pit stop as per usual, and the car ran well which enabled us to fight through the field with good pace. We’ll keep working hard ahead of the final round at Barcelona…we maintained a solid lead in the class championship.”

After racing in both the Endurance and Sprint in 2023 for WRT – where he shares the garage with the likes of Valentino Rossi – the former FIA Formula 2 driver has only taken up the Sprint rounds for the team this year.

The final Sprint outing of the year heads to Barcelona on October 11-13, where Williams and De Haan will start with a 21 point lead (16.5 for a win) over Mercedes pair Aurelien Panis and Cesar Gazeau.

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