Oran Park record under threat as Oz F3 returns.

Oran Park Raceway's four-year old series lap record could well be obliterated when the Kumho Tyres Australian F3 Championship returns to racing next weekend.

Pre-event testing for the second round of the season took place at the demanding Sydney circuit in near perfect conditions this week, and a number of leading competitors undercut the existing mark of 1min 03.97secs, set by Michael Caruso in 2003, by some margin

Leanne Tander led the way, setting the pace at the venue where she recorded her first career pole late last season. Tander took her Fleetcare TanderSport Dallara F304 to a best time of 1min 03.3secs, over half a second quicker than her pole lap from November and four-tenths clear of Caruso's record.

"Our day went pretty well and we were able to achieve most of what we wanted," the 25-year old said, "On new tyres, the set-up of our car was very good and we were able to set some good lap times given the track was pretty slippery and not as good as it can be. I'm fairly happy with the package we have and I know that I could've gone quicker on our best lap. It's going to be a very competitive round and I can't wait to get there and get racing again."

Unofficially posting the second fastest time was British driver Charlie Hollings, who took his Astuti Motorsport Dallara-Renault to a lap of 1min 03.7secs on old Kumho tyres. Known, thanks to his recently-introduced mascot, as the British Bulldog, Hollings has been one of the stand-out performers over the first few meetings of the year, winning races at the non-championship Australian Grand Prix event and taking a pole at the A1GP meeting at Eastern Creek in February.

"It was our first real test day with the team and It was good to get some running under our belts," he said, "I had only arrived back into Australia at 8pm the previous night and, by the end of the day, I was pretty tired, so we elected not to put new rubber on. But it was a good day and I'm feeling confident about next weekend."

Fellow Briton James Winslow had a more difficult day as his Opes Prime-supported team continued to come to grips with the ex-Fortec Racing Dallara-Mugen. The reigning Asian F3 champion struggled with a number of niggling mechanical problems, but has shown the car's potential pace with a competitive yet unfortunate run at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Winslow posted a best time of 1min 04.2secs to tie with Sydney driver Mat Sofi and Italian youngster Marco Mapelli. Sofi said that the test was as much about getting reacquainted with the car as it was banking hot lap times.

"It wasn't the best day, but it was good to get back in the car," he said of his Total Developments/R-Tek F3 Dallara-Mugen, "At the end of the day, we made some changes to the car and it really came good, but I ran out of laps to improve my time. My best lap of the day came on my last one, so there is certainly room for improvement."

Mapelli survived a few minor offs throughout the day as he completed only his second-ever test day with Team BRM, and will be looking to continue the racy form he
showed at the grand prix support events a month ago.

The five drivers testing at Oran Park yesterday - Tander, Hollings, Mapelli, Winslow and Sofi - will be joined by fellow leading contenders Stuart Kostera, Tim Macrow and Chris Gilmour next weekend as this year's Australian Drivers' Championship continues to shapes up as one of the most competitive yet.