Clucas Leads En Route To Second In Adelaide

TEAM BRM continues to improve in their 2006 Australian Formula Ford Championship debut this weekend, scoring a fighting second in a
thrilling race at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide today.

British driver Ben Clucas lead a majority of today's second of three races, once again proving his undoubted class in front of a highly competitive field in the national debut for the all-new Ford Duratec
engine.

For the second time in two races Clucas was able to capitalize on an incident between the two race leaders, jumping from third to fast after
the two cars in front collided exiting turn four.

From thereon in Clucas and Spectrum driver John Martin staged a close battle for the lead, Clucas holding on until the penultimate lap - after
eight laps in the lead - when Martin was able to slip by.

The Team BRM driver held on against a fast finishing Nathan Caratti to finish second - improving on the third place he scored yesterday and again showing the massive potential both he and the team has in
Australian competition.

And after having ferocious battles with Martin since the start of race one yesterday, Clucas is just two points behind in the overall round results with, giving him a strong shot at an overall round win in
tomorrow's third race.

In a disappointing turn of events, Team BRM's local rookie Shane Wright had unfulfilled promise after the engine of his Ray White Real Estate
Geraldton-supported Van Diemen failed on Lap seven.

Wright - having started 14th - had made impressive progress through the field in the opening stages of the race and was sitting in an extremely competitive 8th place when the engine gave way just before turn eight.

The Modbury based driver has continually improved this weekend despite still having less than 30 laps experience in his Van Diemen RF06 under his belt since gaining the drive with the local team recently.

The team has sourced a replacement engine from Formula Ford Australia and will replace the damaged unit before the final race tomorrow, giving Wright the chance to once again impress with a drive through the field.

Tomorrow's third and final race of the first Australian Formula Ford Championship round for 2006 gets underway tomorrow morning at 8:15am.

Final Results - Race 2 of 3 Australian Formula Ford Championship Round 1, Clipsal 500 Adelaide
1. John Martin

2. Ben Clucas - Team BRM

3. Nathan Caratti

4. Todd Fiore

5. John Moysten

DNF - Shane Wright - Team BRM

Team BRM Driver Quotes SHANE WRIGHT - #20 Van Diemen RF06 - Duratec (Race - DNF) "Obviously it's really disappointing, because things were going really
well and I was finally able to show what I was capable of.

"We were running inside the top eight very strongly and I was condiment that I was going to be able to improve further. It's just a shame that
it was a problem that was out of our hands.

"I was able to push much harder that time around. The guys have done a great job with the car so far to work around the new-car problems we've
been having."

BEN CLUCAS - #21 Van Diemen RF06 - Duratec (Race - 2nd) "That was okay. I was obviously disappointed to loose the lead on the second lap, but it was a good, clean and fair move by Martin. I didn't
quite have the pace so I had to defend pretty hard.

"We had a couple of little mechanical gremlins which are really to be
expected given the late arrival of the cars.

"The team has had a third and a second in the two races so far, we really can't be too unhappy, especially given how much the other teams have tested before the season. I think I have improved my driving as
well so I'm looking forward to the third race."

MARK RUNDLE - Team Manager "Obviously we are very disappointed that it was a component failure in the engine that ended Shane's day. He was going very well up to that
stage and was really showing what he was capable of doing.

"For Ben to be up where he is fighting for race wins is a fantastic achievement from all the team. It's been a lot of hard work but it was satisfying to see him lead for most of that race. Next time hopefully we'll be able to give him just that bit more car speed so he can hold on
for another lap or two!"

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