The return of John Gourlay’s Audi A4 headlines a strong entry for Round 2 of the 2011 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series at Winton’s Shannons Nationals event this weekend.
The 2008 title winning car, driven by Darren Hossack, is not completing the full schedule this year, but is expected to push Round 1 winner Tony Ricciardello all the way on the tight Victorian layout.
Tyres were the main talking point at the Sports Sedans’ opening round at Mallala, with Ricciardello busy adapting his Alfa GTV’s set-up after switching from Dunlops to Michelins.
The GT3-spec French rubber was debuted in the class by Hossack last year, and with Ricciardello having spent 2010 in the V8 Supercars Championship, the Audi team’s extra experience with the tyres could be a deciding factor.
Hossack has played down the potential advantage however, ahead of the first national Sports Sedan races held at Winton since 2003.
“From what I could see on the (Mallala television) coverage, Tony struggled quite a bit with the Michelin,” said Hossack.
“But, he won’t be behind for long. They’re a clever team and he will have spent some serious time coming to grips with the data he collected at Mallala, and I’d suggest he’ll be the pace-setter again at Winton.”
The Sports Sedans will join the Commodore Cup (CLICK HERE for separate story), Radical Australia Cup, Australian Swift Series and the Australian Saloon Car Series on the Shannons Nationals program this weekend.
The Radicals will again run their two-driver format, with the Round 1 winning combination of Jonathon Miles and Tim Berryman desperate to make up for their disaster at Phillip Island last month.
The pair were disqualified from Race 2 after Miles spun on the warm-up lap, and was subsequently deemed to have been a non-starter due to crossing the start line more than 15 seconds after the field had been given the green light.
“I wasn’t sure how Tim would react after that,” said Miles.
“I couldn’t have blamed him for electing to go it alone for the rest of the series.
“After Tim came off at turn one for the first race (while in third place), I wanted to make sure we made the most of our pole position for race two and knew how important tyre temperature would be, so I worked the car hard, only to spin off at MG.”
The new ProSports category for GT vehicles was set to make its debut at Winton, but has been withdrawn from the schedule due to a lack of entries. The class is now expected to make its debut at Phillip Island on November 4-6.
Sunday’s action from Winton will be streamed live over the internet at itvlive.com.au.
See below for the Winton entry lists.
Kerrick Sports Sedan Series
| No. | CL | SPONSOR | DRIVER | State | VEHICLE | CC |
| 4 | S1 | Auto Union Deutche | Darren Hossack | Vic | Audi A4 | 6000 |
| 5 | S1 | Red Rooster | Tony Ricciardello | WA | Alfa Romeo GTV | 6000 |
| 7 | S1 | Steve Toyshop/Menai Blinds | Scott Butler | NSW | Chev Camaro | 6000 |
| 9 | S2 | Centreline Suspensio/HIS Hoses | Chris Muscat | Vic | Mazda RX7 | 3300 |
| 10 | S1 | Jocaro Motors | Calvin Pusterla | Vic | Chev Corvette | 5700 |
| 12 | S1 | Pakenham Tyrepower | Chas Talbot | Vic | Holden Comm | 6000 |
| 19 | S2 | Johnson Motorsport | Damian Johnson | Vic | Holden Torana | 3300 |
| 21 | S2 | G&G Engineering/P&L Mechanical | Graeme Gilliland | Vic | Mazda RX7 | 2289 |
| 25 | S1 | Jocaro Motors | Neil Bryson | Vic | Ford Mustang | 6000 |
| 32 | S1 | Bell Real Estate | Michael Robinson | Vic | Holden Monaro | 6000 |
| 44 | S1 | M R Automotive P/L | Colin Smith | Qld | Rover Vitesse | 6000 |
| 49 | S1 | Pipeline Plumbing | Dave Pettit | Vic | Chev Camaro | 5000 |
| 51 | S1 | Marinelli’s Mechanical & Perf | Bob McLoughlin | Qld | Holden Comm | 6000 |
| 56 | S1 | BJ Banks Electrical | Bruce Banks | Tas | Mazda RX7 | 5998 |
| 66 | S1 | Five Star Fencing & Gates | Dean Camm | Vic | Chev Corvette | 6000 |
| 68 | S1 | Aston Air Conditioning | Shane Bradford | Qld | Chev Camaro | 6000 |
| 70 | S1 | Dandy Engines | Keith Linnell | Vic | Ford Cortina | 6000 |
| 73 | S1 | Blush Photography/Ramsdale Wreckers | Garry Roberts | Vic | Holden Torana | 4433 |
| 88 | S1 | Esjay Commercial Plastering | Ian Rice | Vic | Holden Comm | 4550 |
| 97 | S1 | Bohler Uddenholm Aust. Pty Ltd | Anthony Macready | NSW | Nissan 300ZX | 6000 |
Radical Australia Cup
| No. | SPONSOR | DRIVER | VEHICLE | CC | COLOUR |
| 1 | Radical Australia | Peter Opie | Radical | 1500 | Black |
| 4 | MPA Projects | Edward Singleton | Radical | 1500 | White |
| 5 | Haggarty Racing Team | Simon Haggarty | Radical | 1500 | Wh/Red |
| 6 | Haggarty Racing Team | Tony Haggarty | Radical | 1500 | Red |
| 7 | DEPUTY.COM | Steve Shelley | Radical | 1500 | White |
| 8 | Nevco Engineering | George Pethard | Radical | 1500 | White |
| 9 | Radical Australia | Chris Medland/Nathan Stevens | Radical | 1500 | Chrome |
| 11 | Radical Team Melbourne | Robert Baird/Gary Walker | Radical | 1500 | Silver |
| 16 | WT Partnership | Phil Anseline/Oliver Smith | Radical | 1500 | Black |
| 32 | Navybox School of Motorsport | Sue Hughes | Radical | 1500 | Blue |
| 33 | Volvo Cars Australia | Tim Berryman/Jon Miles | Radical | 1500 | White |
| 44 | Interior Developments | Glyn Edis | Radical | 1500 | Green |
| 45 | Thetradeinnet | Shane Otten | Radical | 1500 | Black |
| 57 | Key Produce | Richard Bloomfield | Radical | 1500 | White |
| 70 | Radical Events | Tony Palmer | Radical | 1500 | Black |
| 78 | Radical Australia | Greg Smith/Bryon Smith | Radical | 1500 | Orange |
Australian Swift Series
| No. | SPONSOR | DRIVER | State | VEHICLE | CC | COLOUR |
| 3 | Trans Tasman M/sport | Sarah Wylie | QLD | Swift Sport | 1500 | Yellow |
| 5 | Trans Tasman M/sport | Rex McCutcheon | NZ | Swift Sport | 1500 | White |
| 6 | Haber Racing Team | Morgan haber | QLD | Swift Sport | 1500 | White |
| 10 | Ice Break | Jesse Dixon | QLD | Swift Sport | 1500 | Blue |
| 16 | Kleenduct Racing | Harley Phelan | VIC | Swift Sport | 1500 | Black |
| 17 | Toa57d Motorsport | Rob Jarvis | QLD | Swift Sport | 1500 | White |
| 20 | Trans Tasman M/sport | Josh Hughes | VIC | Swift Sport | 1500 | Red |
| 27 | Toa57d Motorsport | Allan Jarvis | QLD | Swift Sport | 1500 | Black |
| 84 | Trans Tasman M/sport | Brooke Leech | QLD | Swift Sport | 1500 | Yellow |
| 96 | Trans Tasman M/sport | Charlie Kovacs Jr | SA | Swift Sport | 1500 | Red |
Australian Saloon Car Series
| No. | SPONSOR | DRIVER | State | VEHICLE | COLOUR |
| 5 | Coffey Ford | Andrew Nowland | Vic | AU Falcon | Blue/Wh |
| 6 | salooncars.net.au | Tony Evangelou | Vic | VT Comm | Grn/Black |
| 7 | Nippy’s | Sam Milton | SA | AU Falcon | Black |
| 10 | Nullawarre Transport | Tony McKenzie | SA | VN Comm | Wh/Yellow |
| 15 | Bowden Homes | Shawn Jamieson | SA | VT Comm | Red |
| 16 | Kleenduct Australia P/L | Harley Phelan | Vic | VT Comm | Purple |
| 17 | Batteries Direct | Matt Lovell | SA | AU Falcon | Green |
| 18 | RED | TBA | Qld | VT Comm | Black |
| 25 | Laurie Ogle Motors | Rod Lloyd | Vic | EA Falcon | White/Yellow |
| 26 | Tru-Blu Motorsport | Meg Carra | Vic | AU Falcon | Blue/White |
| 27 | Transley Solutions | Luke Westall | NSW | AU Falcon | White/Blue |
| 28 | O’Connell’s tyres | Craig O’Connell | Vic | EA Falcon | |
| 34 | Warby’s Engines | Alf Kuusela | Vic | AU Falcon | Orange |
| 38 | GMG Automotive | Gavin Ross | Vic | VT Comm | Green |
| 41 | Dial Before You Dig | Mark Primmer | NSW | AU Falcon | Red/Blue |
| 42 | Dial Before You Dig | Ian Chivas | NSW | AU Falcon | Red/Blue |
| 46 | Premium Showers & Robes | Paul Pennisi | Vic | VT Comm | Black |
| 47 | Cameron Hoskins | Cam Hoskins | Vic | EA Falcon | |
| 50 | Raymond Moss | Cameron Moss | NSW | AU Falcon | Grn/Silver |
| 54 | O’Connell’s tyres | Andrew O’Connell | Vic | EA Falcon | |
| 62 | Bridge Model Cars | Mark Bryan | SA | EB Falcon | Green/Black |
| 67 | Phil Gray | Phil Gray | Vic | EA Falcon | Red/Wh/Blu |
| 70 | Mal Wood Automotive | Kelli Stephens | Vic | AU Falcon | Blue |
| 82 | v8touringcars.com.au | Geoff Brown | Vic | AU Falcon | Black |
| 91 | Walkom Perf Engines | Naomi Maltby | SA | VN Comm | Blue |
