Cameron McConville has produced one of his best Auto One V8 Utes drives, claiming the round victory at Winton Motor Raceway today.
The Bundaberg Rum-backed Holden secured the round win with victory in the final race, adding to his win yesterday.
Despite finishing down in 11th place in an exciting reverse grid race, McConville was pleased to take a convincing round win.
“It was a solid weekend for the Walkinshaw team,” smiled the round winner, who is doubling this weekend as the Driving Standards Observer for the V8 Supercars Championship.
“They gave me a great car and we had fantastic speed. Race 2 was pretty hectic but we stayed clear of the trouble and recorded a fantastic result.”
McConville was the first of three V8 Supercars pedigree drivers to chequered flag in the final race with Jason Bargwanna in second and Nathan Pretty third.
Bargwanna recorded the best result for the Auto One Wildcard this season with a spirited second for the round in the Williams Race Tech-prepped SS Holden.
“I’ve definitely got a deeper appreciation for what these Ute guys do to get these things around,” said Bargwanna,
“The competition is pretty fierce and there’s plenty of fast cars out there. I’m pleased for Auto One and for Williams Race Tech that we can have a weekend like this.”
David Sieders captured third overall in what was a critical round in the overall series chase, with the Sydneysider now just 15 points of series leader Ryal Harris, who finished eighth overall.
While all eyes were on McConville at the front and the title battle between Sieders and Harris, hard-charging South Australian Craig Dontas secured his first win, claiming the reverse grid Race 2.
“I got a great start,” the Thirsty Camel Holden driver said.
“When we got to the front I wasn’t going to give it up. I slowed down a lot in the last lap or two to make sure that I didn’t overdrive. That allowed Chucky (Baxter) to close in but I wasn’t going to make any dumb moves and cough this one up.”
Fellow South Aussie Gary Baxter chased Dontas home driving the Sage Automation Holden to record his best result in recent memory.
Third across the line was Rhys McNally (Stratco Holden) ahead of Gerard McLeod who placed fourth in the Macmahon Mining Holden to record his career-best result.
The V8 Utes will head to the Sydney Telstra 500 in two weeks’ time for the season finale.
