AUSF3: Justin Tate impresses in maiden F3 test

Last Friday saw 2007 Victorian Porsche 944 Champion, Justin Tate (16) take his first steps towards a future in open-wheel racing with a highly impressive test at Winton Raceway.

On a day of extreme temperatures across Victoria, the Victorian star acclimatised well to the hot dusty Winton track and was welcomed by the Scud Racing team for their first shakedown of 2008.

The entire Scud Racing support team was present to support new team member New Zealander Mathew Radisich (Dallara 304), with Justin being invited to test his skills at the controls of the Dallara 301 as raced by Lauren Gray in 2007.

Being Justin's first time in an F3 car, his first session consisted of running around steadily. With dust pluming off both cars, fast times were not going to be the order during the early part of the day, or so everyone thought until Justin astounded all present by setting some very competitive practice times.

The second session saw Tate really push the car to see what he could get out of it, and himself. Still learning the car, and with odd mistake, Justin set some very quick times - some three seconds quicker the first session. Needless to say, there were smiles aplenty on the pitwall !

The final session of the day again saw Justin show maturity beyond his 16 years by building further speed while demonstrating a near faultless session.

Even though the track was far too hot to put in fast times, Justin managed to take another full second off his times with next to no mistakes. The Scud Racing Team stood as one at the fence, truly excited by Justin's impressive lap times and how well he looked after the car.

The day finished with some encouraging words from Scud Team Principal, Bill Maddocks and Justin's engineer Rick, and a cool drink as reward for a job well done.

Justin wishes to thank Bill Maddocks and the rest of the Scud Racing team for the opportunity to test in a great Formula 3 car.

It is now hoped that the necessary budget can be raised to put this talented teenager in Australia's Premier open wheel racing category and win the Gold Star (Australian Drivers Championship)

-credit: justin tate