Ricky Capo and Kai Allen have taken a victory each in the Bathurst Sportscar Challenge at Mount Panorama. In what is essentially a non-championship round of the Australian Prototype Series, the 18-car strong field formed part of this weekend’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst International.
The opening race saw Kai Allen on pole in his Radical SR10, but he was beaten through Hell Corner by Neale Muston’s SR8. Allen returned the favour, passing Allen on Lap 2 with the pair ending the shortened race in that order.
Further back, Ryan Godfrey jumped ahead of both Alex Kenny and Ricky Capo to take third position and Capo dropped even further, falling to ninth by the end of the first lap. Capo was able to come back to fourth place in his Praga R1.
Allen also posted the fastest lap of the race with a 2:07:51 on the way to victory, ahead of, Muston, Ryan Godfrey, Capo and Alex Kenny.
The 2022 Australian Prototype Series winner John Paul Drake made up one place in the race to finish in sixth position after he qualified in seventh.
Race 2 took place in much better conditions, with Allen starting
Race 1 was cut short by one lap and had a rolling start due to the mixed conditions on track at Mount Panorama in the morning.
Capo was the winner of Race 2 after Drake couldn’t catch the Praga ANZ driver in a thrilling race.
With the starting grid based upon the earlier finishing order, Capo started from fourth but capitalised on an eager Godfrey, who charged up the inside to head into Hell Corner. The move didn’t stick, Godfrey pushing Allen and Muston wide, with Capo shooting through to lead the field up Mountain Straight.
Allen struggled to back up his victory in Race 1, falling down the order to sit fifth by the end of lap one. He overtook Muston on Lap 4 to take back third position to at least score another podium.
All eyes were on Capo and Drake, who continued to set the pace up front, Drake posting the fastest lap of the race with a 2:07.1295 the sixth and final lap of the race, but it wasn’t enough to catch Capo, who recorded his first win since the Queensland APS round.
Race 3 of the Bathurst Sportscar Challenge begins at 07:20 AEST tomorrow.
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