Robbie Farr won the opening round of World Series Sprintcars at Titan Garages Brisbane International Speedway on Saturday night but his road to victory was far from easy.
Despite setting quick time at the start of the night Farr did it the hard way, manhandling an ill-handling car and surviving a few challenges for the lead in the 30-lap final, after starting out of position four.
One of those challenges resulted in challenger James McFadden having his front-end wiped out as he put it all on the line in a do-or-die high line move.
Farr was the quickest of the 33 cars to run against the clock at the start of the night, setting the benchmark at 11.809 seconds, just ahead of American Tyler Walker and David Murcott who endured heartbreak after crashing out in the first lap of the feature race after starting from pole position.
Farr’s Orrcon Steel-backed East Coast Pipelines team then had work hard for the rest of the night after the car was damaging in the first heat.
“The night we had, you wouldn’t believe,” Farr said.
“The front of the car was shortened by enough four inches in the first heat when I got out of shape and spun around several times, forcing us to chase their tail for the rest of the night.
“I didn’t win the race, the boys did, the team did.
“We just fought our way through the night.”
Farr admitted they would have settled for a top five given the front-end damage, having their backs against the wall.
“To come out with a win, I just didn’t expect it.”
Steven Lines was impressive in his debut for Monte Motorsport to come home in second place ahead of local driver Cameron Gessner.
2010/2011 World Series Sprintcars Championship
Round 1 – Brisbane, QLD
A-Main
1. | Robbie Farr |
2. | Steven Lines |
3. | Cameron Gessner |
4. | Bryan Mann |
5. | Ian Madsen |
6. | Todd Wanless |
7. | Max Dumesny |
8. | Jason Sides |
9. | Matthew Reed |
10. | Peter Thorley |
11. | Danny Reidy |
12. | Peter Lack |
13. | Trevor Green |
14. | Andrew Scheuerle |
15. | Andrew Wright |
DNF | Ian Loudoun |
DNF | Ricky Maiolo |
DNF | James McFadden |
DNF | Tyler Walker |
DNF | David Murcott. |