Le Page back at BRM for Mallala Oz F3.

Team BRM has announced that Victorian talent Laurent Le Page will rejoin the team for the upcoming fourth round of the Kumho Tyres Australian F3 Championship at Mallala Raceway next weekend.

Le Page will give the team a two-car line up, joining current championship leader Ben Clucas, for its home round at the 2.6km South Australian circuit next weekend [24-25 June].

The 22-year old drove a third Team BRM Dallara-Opel at this year's Australian Grand Prix support event in Melbourne, scoring strong results in what was his first ever race meeting in a 'slicks-and-wings' car. The local acquitted himself well, qualifying in a strong seventh place - in the most competitive field of the year - and finished the four races in eighth, 13th, fifth and seventh respectively.

Le Page, who will be making his first Gold Star Championship start, will drive the car driven by Queenslander Jason Vince in the first two rounds of this year's series, the same car that he tested at Mallala in January this year, and reckons that the prior experience gained at the grand prix and the Mallala test would be invaluable in ensuring that he would at least be competitive at the circuit next weekend.

"Knowing the circuit will be a huge help for me," Le Page admitted, "It's going to be less of a learning curve and I'll be able to concentrate on getting the car right instead of learning both the car and the track. I think it's going to be really good, and I'm really looking forward to it. The last meeting went really well and I would be happy to build on that with a top five result from the next weekend. It will be great if I can get the most out of the car and give Team BRM a good result for the weekend."

Clucas currently leads the race for the Gold Star by 28 points from Michael Trimble, after winning five of the six races held to date, but team owner Bronte Rundle is happy to be back to a two-car operation for Mallala.

"We are very happy to welcome Laurent back for the Mallala round," he said, "He impressed the team when he tested for us back in January, and then backed that performance up by a very strong debut weekend in Melbourne at the grand prix. He proved there and then that he is a very capable driver and we are pleased that he will be rejoining the team for our home round. The team has got a good record at Mallala, and I'm looking forward to seeing another good weekend from both Ben and Laurent."