Race 1 of the third round of Precision National Sports Sedans Series at Sydney Motorsport Park fell short of its scheduled laps with Jordan Caruso the victor in the John Gourlay-prepared Chev-powered Audi.
The big 34-car field headlined the Sydney MasterBlast, which features a couple of other national series as well as historic categories, a hillclimb, drifts and other events.
Qualifying was split into two sessions, with Caruso’s pole-winning time of 1:26.5076, 1.6s under the lap record and 0.5s better than Tony Ricciardello (Alfa Romeo/Chev).
Steve Tamasi (Calibra/Chev) ensured the big three were at the forefront and ahead of the fast Kumho NSW Sports Sedans Championship front runners Brad Shiels (Fiat 124/Rotary Turbo) and Peter Ingram (Mazda RX7 Triple Rotary).
Birol Cetin (Chev Camaro) outpointed National series points leader Ash Jarvis (Monaro/Chev), Ryan Humfrey (Falcon XE/Chev), Nick Smith (RX7/Nissan Turbo) and Steve Lacey (Camaro) in 10th.
Caruso won the race for the lead after the rolling start, and Ricciardello was second until passed on Lap 4 by Tamasi. Shiels held fourth throughout, while Cetin managed to split the rotary-powered cars and was ahead of Ingram.
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Mark Duggan (Aston Martin/Chev) qualified 14th and charged through to seventh ahead of Humfrey and Matt Ingram (Mazda RX8). Tenth place went to Lacey, who soldiered on after his rear wing broke.
He was in front of Jarvis, Nick Mantikos (MARC II Mustang), New Zealander Angus Fogg in his modified Central Muscle Cars Ford Mustang, Michael Robinson (Monaro/Chev), Tony Cox (Saab/Dodge) and Chris Jackson (Calibra/Chev).
Smith suffered another DNF when the boost hose came adrift, and a fuel warning light came on. Having experienced a fuel fire in recent times, he shut down immediately, which necessitated the Safety Car.
There were two other national series categories on the program. Ben Stewart held off Lachlan Bloxsom, Mason Harvey and Ryan Tomsett in a close four-way tussle in the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia Scholarship Series Round 5 first race. Last round winner Alice Buckley was a first lap accident casualty.
In the third-round opener to the Australian Prototype Series, Phil Hughes (Hayabusa V8-powered Radical SR8) edged out pole sitter John Paul Drake to lead at the start. Hughes withstood the challenge until Drake (Turbo Peugeot engined Wolf F1 Mistral) spun off and DNF’d to score his first win on slick tyres.
His other victories were on wets in the rain. Jason Makris (Wolf Tornado) finished second, while Mark Williamson debuted his Ford V6-powered Revolution A1 for third.
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