Lawrence third in Aust.

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32461, 23 November 1970, Page 26

Lawrence third in Aust.

(N.X. Presi Assn.—Copyright) SYDNEY. The former New Zealand champion, G. Lawrence, drove his 2.4-litre Ferrari Dino for third place in the Australian Grand Prix on the Warwick Farm circuit, Sydney, yesterday. The fair-haired Lawrence,

from Hamilton, finished only 7.6 seconds behind the Sydney driver, F. Matich, the winner of the 101.25-mile race in a McLaren Repco. Lawrence chose to race in spite of a diagnosed attack of acute tonscillitis which became worse as he inhaled petrol fumes during the race. He said he had had to drive hard throughout to stay with the second-place winner, N. Allen, of Sydney, in a McLaren Chevrolet "If I hadn’t had this problem I might have done better,” he said. Lawrence, whose shrillsounding machine is the world’s only privately-owned racing Ferrari, said he was looking forward to the coming Tasman series, for which the Grand Prix was valuable experience. He was a surprise winner of the Tasman International 100 at Warwick Fann last February.

The other New Zealander, in the race, F. Radisich, a 32-year-old service station proprietor, of Henderson, was next to last among the 13 finishers. He had been running consistently in the second half of the field, but lost five laps when a rear-tyre punctured on his McLaren 5000. Radisich will fly the car back to New Zealand during this week for the Gold Star series race in Levin, next Sunday. \ DRIVER BANNED The former New Zealand touring car champion, P. Fahey, of Auckland, had a disappointing day in his Ford Escort R.D.A. After finishing a speedy fourth in the first two heats for a touring car trophy, scrutineers banned him from starting in the second because of a non - regulation windscreen. He said scrutineers yesterday had passed the hardened glass screen, and . allowed him to start in the first race, and realised their error only an hour before the second heat was due to start He said he had been pleased with the performance of the car in the first heat in which he beat some of Australia's fastest touring cars, and had been hoping to do better in the second neat