KUMHO SALUTES THE NEW GOLD STAR AUSTRALIAN DRIVER'S CHAMPION

Kumho, the control tyre supplier for the Australian F3 Championship, has paid tribute to the newly crowned Australian Drivers Champion, Simon Hodge after he clinched the CAMS Gold Star by winning the Australian F3 title at Sydney Motorsport Park in his Kumho shod Mygale.

[caption id="attachment_11451" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Simon Hodge on his way to claiming the Australian Gold Star in his Kumho shod Mygale F3


The 20-year-old Hodge form South Australia becomes the 58^th Gold Star Australian Drivers Champion, grabbing the title in the second of three races at the Sydney circuit, completing his 12^th win for the season.

[caption id="attachment_11452" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The 20-year-old Hodge form South Australia becomes the 58th Gold Star Australian Drivers Champion, grabbing the title in the second of three races at Sydney Motorsport Park


Kumho congratulates Hodge and the entire crop of fast young drivers who have contested the Australian F3 Championship this year not only proving their own ability and skill but helping create better tyres with feedback to Kumho engineers.

According to Kumho Tyre Australia national marketing and training manager David Basha, the company is proud to be a part of a racing category that does so much to nurture young talent and develop our racing champions of the future.

'Simon Hodge did an amazing job this year finishing on the podium 18 times and showing his race craft and skill in every race," said David Basha.

"However it is a two way street, Kumho gets an enormous amount of feedback and data from our involvement in Australian F3 and it is a valuable category for us to be a part of," he added.

"It is also an honour to be a part of Australia's oldest consecutively awarded motor sport prize with the winner of Australia's premier open wheel category being awarded the CAMS Gold Star."

Along with the Australian F3 Championship Kumho is a major tyre supplier to open wheel race categories around the world.

[caption id="attachment_11450" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The 20-year-old Hodge form South Australia becomes the 58th Gold Star Australian Drivers Champion, grabbing the title in the second of three races at Sydney Motorsport Park


The company also supplies race tyres to the European Auto GP category, the French Formula 4 series, the Italian Formula 3 Championship, Italian Formula ACI-CSAI Abarth Championship and was tyre supplier to the Formula 3 Euroseries for a decade up to 2012.

Organisers of the French Formula Four championship have praised Kumho for being a cost effective solution with no performance compromise.

Simon Hodge explained that this year's title had not been straightforward even though he had led since the first round of the year.

"We've had our challenges and Ben Gersekowski has been pushing us the whole way this year. It's been a tug-of-war between the two of us and to come out on top when it counts is just an unbelievable feeling," said Hodge

"It's a huge honour to be up on such a prestigious list. It's something that, coming in through the motorsport ranks, through Karts and Formula Ford, you always look up to the Gold Star winners and the Formula 3 championship, with a lot of prestige.

The battle for the F3 Kumho Cup went down to the final race, with a thrilling finish for the rookie category.

The Kumho Cup is the entry-level class introduced as part of this year's Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship season and is geared to cater for new drivers looking for their initial 'wings and slicks' experience along with state level competitors seeking an affordable entry point to national competition and professional teams looking to develop young talent.

Proving the Kumho Cup is achieving its goals, the title was won by a 16 year old former karter, Roland Legge.  The R-Tek Motorsport driver took the class win after proving to be one of the stars of the season and has signaled he will be a star of the future.

Nathan Gotch in his AGI Sport Dallara, finished second in the Kumho Cup standings and Dennie Rumble third.

The Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship concludes the 2014 season with the Shannons Nationals before returning in 2015 - the opening round to be held at Sandown Raceway in Victoria in late March. This championship final will be broadcast on SBS Speedweek in coming weeks.