AUSF3: Steve Morcombe to debut at Eastern Creek

QUEENSLANDER STEVE MORCOMBE TO MAKE F3 DEBUT IN NEW DALLARA AT EASTERN CREEK.

The 10th F307 Dallara chassis to compete this season will make its Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship debut next week at the hands of Queensland Sportscar champion Steve Morcombe.

The Sunshine-coast (Mooloolaba) based Sportscar regular recently imported a Dallara F307 -- Mercedes Benz car from top British / Euro F3 outfit Fortec Motorsport, a car driven at times by Greg and Leo Mansell -- the sons of 1992 F1 World Champ Nigel - in their British F3 campaign last season.

Morcombe -- the proprietor of Morcraft Homes -- has entered the car ahead of the weekends' sixth round of the 2008 championship series to be held at Sydney's Eastern Creek raceway in what will be his first 'wings and slicks' start, after years of dominating the Queensland Sportscar scene.

Driving a Chiron LMP3-05 / 1600cc Sportscar, Morecombe has spent the last several years dominating at tracks like Queensland Raceway and Morgan Park in the Queensland titles.

"I started karting at about 30 after making some money to fund the racing," Morcombe explained.

"After that I jumped into a Westfield Clubman and raced with Porsche GT3s driven by the likes of Tony and Klark Quinn before I got the Chiron (Sportscar), which is a fantastic car. I'm going to keep that, but after a few years there I needed a change."

After an extended period of preparation from his Kiwana Auto Service outfit and a pre-round test session, Morcombe said he was finally ready to take to the track in his F3 car at Eastern Creek, next week.

"I have been racing the Chiron for a few seasons now and wanted to look to race where there was a bit more regular action, so we decided to look for a national-level category with strong competition -- F3 was the choice," he said.

"I didn't want to go into something with a tin top and certainly didn't want to go slower than I was already -- which was about V8 Supercar pace in the Sportscar. We were also looking for something quite technical that required some engineering and F3 really fit that need.

"We had a run with the car at Queensland Raceway the other day to make sure it was all working after the rebuild, but things look set for Eastern Creek. The plan at this stage is to run Sydney, Phillip Island and Indy this year ahead of the full championship in 2009, but we'll see how things go with that regard.

"The car was driven by Nigel Mansell's sons at Fortec last year, so it's not like I've got anything to live up to!" he joked.

Morcombe will join a competitive field in the midst of another ferociously close Australian Drivers' Championship title fight at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway next weekend, during round six of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship.

Round six will be held between July 11 -- 13.

The weekend features the Shannons Nationals' return to Sydney with other features including the GT Championship and Sports Sedans, amongst an entry of over 145 cars across six categories.

-credit: www.formula3.com.au