Alex Gardner was a comprehensive winner in the first 50-minute race of Round 1 of the Workhorse Radical Cup Australia at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Racing with the Volante Rosso Motorsport team, the Ferrari Academy 15-year-old led from the start and continued to show the way for his first Radical win.

“It was really good to get Bart [Mawer] at the first corner and then I concentrated on my pace from there,” he said.

Garth Walden Racing’s Chris Perini finish second, 9s behind. “In the end I tried to get away from my team-mate Peter Padden [who finished third] which I did, and keep with Alex but couldn’t,” he said.

Arise Racing’s Elliott Schutte kept fourth despite a 5s penalty for exceeding track limits. Team BRM Mark Rosser started 14th and with Joey Mawson finished fifth.

The Arise cars of Zig Fuhrmeister and Cooper Cutts were the next two, the latter recovering from an early spin after Turn 2. In eighth was Nick Kelly from Jordan Oon and Zara Horn together after they started 16th. Volante Rosso’s Peter Clare and Josh Hunt finished tenth with Brad Russell and Andrew Eldridge the next two.

Pole-sitter Mawer held second until the pit stop where he handed to Terry Knowles and finished 13th after the latter had a spin. The Desire Racing team finished ahead of Glen Kenny/Melinda Price, Sue Hughes, Jim Hernandez and Warwick Churche. Simon Arthur was a late retirement while Ash Samadi went out much earlier.

Despite the qualifying order, the grid was determined by which driver started and their fastest time. Second fastest in qualifying after Mawer was Joey Mawson from Gardner, Paddon, Schutte, Oon and Perini. Next best were Cutts, Hunt, Ash Samadi and Nick Kelly who missed practice due to business commitments.

Race 2 will have the grid based on the second best lap times from qualifying, and will start at at 12:00 local time/AEST on Sunday June 18.