Herne fights back to win Trans Am Race 1 at Phillip Island

Nathan Herne has fought back from a grid penalty to win Race 1 of Round 2 of the Turtle Wax Trans Am Series at Phillip Island.

UPDATE: Herne loses win due to post-race penalty

The starting order was set on the basis of combined practice results after a crash early in Qualifying, although Herne was relegated from second to fifth due to a red flag breach in that earlier session.

Ben Grice ended up on pole position with Owen Kelly alongside for the rolling start, and the latter challenged for the lead at Doohan Corner but ultimately had to get back into file.

Herne regained two positions at the start, and was into second place on Lap 2 when he made contact with Kelly at the Turn 4 Hairpin which put Car #73 wide.

However, Nic Carroll followed the 2021 series winner through the gap which he had created and was soon harassing Herne.

He got inside of Car #1 on Lap 5 at Turn 4, but it took until the Hayshed for him to complete the pass, as Kelly pressed on in fourth.

Carroll was more than three seconds adrift of Grice at that point and while he quickly halved that gap, Car #48 would drop out of the top 10 after he started to slow on Lap 7.

Herne had similarly closed to 1.5s behind Grice before a Safety Car was called on Lap 8 due to Dalton Ellery having become stuck in the gravel at the Southern Loop.

Third at the time was Kelly, ahead of Round 1 winner Tim Brook, Kyle Gurton, Lochie Dalton, Brett Holdsworth, Nash Morris, Cody Burcher, and Jon McCorkindale.

The restart set up a one-lap dash to the chequered flag, and Herne was able to get underneath Grice at Stoner Corner, having apparently given the bumper of Car #03 a touch or two through the long left-handers.

Grice dropped another spot when Kelly kept alongside off the Turn 4 Hairpin and thus had the inside line for Siberia, before Brook also made a move on the erstwhile leader on the run to the Hayshed.

At the chequered flag it was thus Herne from Kelly, Brook, Grice, Gurton, Dalton, Holdsworth, Morris, Burcher, and McCorkindale, with Jett Johnson one position outside the top 10.

Race 2 starts tomorrow at 11:20 local time/AEDT, serving as the opening act for Stan Sport’s six-hour Sunday live stream which kicks off at 11:00.

Results: Race 1 Updated

Classes: O Outright, H Hoosier Cup, M Masters Cup