Glenn Seton and Bob Pearson battled the elements and rivals to win today’s Great Southern Four Hour race at Phillip Island, in their Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X.
The Pro Duct Motorsport team beat the Sherrin Rentals BMW of Iain and Grant Sherrin by more than a lap after a bruising four-hour race.
The race was decided in the last 45 minutes after rain gave the edge to the four-wheel-drive Mitsubishi’s, whilst the Class B Sherrin BMW led through to the final pit stops and used its superior fuel economy and one less pit stop to remain in contention.
Further rain at the end helped the Mitsubishi duo edge out their one-lap margin, handing the inaugural Great Southern enduro win to the experienced Production Car racing veteran and his two-time Touring Car Champion co-driver.
“It was a tense race the whole way and we didn’t know what the BMW was going to do with strategy right up to where they made their last stop,” Seton said after the race.
Jake Camilleri and Scott Nicholas were third outright in their class C Mazda 3 MPS, the front-drive car stunning in the wet weather.
The pair started from pit lane after a late strategy change, but stormed through in the early rain to get into a strong position – climbing the order and into podium contention as others faltered.
The Beric Lynton / Tim Leahey BMW 1M showed race winning pace but turbo issues mid race dropped them down the order to eventually finish fourth, one position ahead of the older BMW 335i driven superbly by Peter O’Donnell and John Bowe – despite starting from the rear of the grid.
Just 11 cars finished the demanding race with the winner covering 119 laps (530km) of the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.
Erebus Motorsport SLS AMG driver Jack LeBrocq continued his dominant performance in his Australian GT Championship debut, backing up his race one victory yesterday with another today.
In a commanding performance, LeBrocq led early and retained the lead through the compulsory pit stops, to complete a dominating performance across the weekend. LeBrocq’s GT debut included pole position and a brand-new Australian GT lap record.
Tony Quinn finished second with son Klark, third just pipping John Bowe’s Ferrari.
Neale Muston continued his command of the Radical Australia Cup, in wet and slippery conditions, taking out today’s 45-minute endurance race from Nick Kelly and Peter White.
Luke Fraiser won his second consecutive Suzuki Swift Racing Series round, holding out a charging Ben Grice in a thrilling finish to their one-hour race today.
Grice raced his way to second place and pressured Frasier to the line, falling short by just 0.07s.
Stuart Shirvington won the pair of PRB Race Series races with Chris Barry second in each.
