Australian Nathan Herne continued his run of top three finishes in the American Trans Am Series with third place at the most recent 12th round on October 8.

Held at Virginia International Raceway over 30 laps of the 3.27 mile (5.3kms) course, Herne in the #29 CUBE 3/Berryman Ford Mustang finished 5.5s off race winner Connor Zilsch (#7 Chev Camaro) and just behind Thomas Merrill (#26 Mustang).

Zilsch, who earlier won the TA race, led throughout. In the TA2 race which featured three full course yellows, Herne progressed up the order after he started sixth when several leading contenders fell by the wayside. It was a weekend where he improved in every session – from 14th in the first practice session to 13th and then 12th in the two – before qualifying.

At the previous round at the World Wide Technology Raceway, it was a double duties weekend for Herne as he returned to the dirt track in the Millard Family Racing Dirt Last Model on the Friday night. At WWT the TA2s were pat of a combined field, with Herne running in fifth when he spun out on the second lap and ultimately placed 11th.

Prior to that event, he and the team crossed third, but the Mustang failed tech inspection afterwards at Watkins Glen. It was a solid race as he started 13th after the grid was based on practice times as qualifying was cancelled.

Herne’s momentum had carried over from the earlier August round on the Nashville Street Circuit where he finished second. “I just didn’t have anything the #7 car which came from last to first,” he recapped on social media.

“It [Nashville] was good to finally get a result for everyone behind the scenes, happy to have a stress-free weekend again.”

The Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas will be the 13th and final round of the US TA2 series on November 2-5.