It was a back-to-back victory for the duo. After a tight 2.4 second victory in 2024, they were a dominant force in this year’s event, led all but two laps and even a 30-second penalty left them in front by 20.46 seconds.
Second place went to the Speedcafe Class X BMW M4 driven by Rob Gooley and Mika Ter Horst the only other car on the lead lap.
One lap behind and second in A2 were Lindsay Kearns and Brad Carr in their Mustang after an early tyre failure. They were a lap ahead of Mark Griffith and Tom Hayman who won A1 in their Mercedes-AMG A45.
Despite an additional stop for a tyre issue, Karlie and Paul Buccini took out B1 in their BMW M140i while Jake Camilleri (Class C Mazda M3 MPS) was sixth, holding position despite also having a 30-second penalty.
The closest battle was in Class D where the lead changed 15 minutes before the end where Emily Cacaviello and Annabelle Rolfo took the lead away from Rob O’Connor and Jesse Dixon and finished five seconds ahead.
Richard Shinkfield and Chris Holdt (BMW M3 E92) were ninth and the winners of B2 while Riley Beggs (Toyota 86) was next. He was ahead of Josh Trappert (Subaru BRZ), Oscar Butt/Troy Derwent (Holden Astra HSV VXR), Greg Wilson (BMW) and Allan Jarvis (Volkswagen Polo GTi) delayed when he lost lights.
Ben Gersowski was the first casualty with power steering failure on the B2 BMW E92. The Ashton Gealy/Jye Flynn Subaru BZR was next and then the Tony Quinn/Matt McCutcheon Chev Camaro with engine failure.
Others that went by the wayside were David Ling/Troy Williams (Ford FPV F6) with fuel pressure and first, and Trent Whyte/Glen Walker (Mustang) with a cracked rotor.
Most unfortunate was the Chris Holdt/Mitch Randall A45 which pitted just before the finish, rejoined as the chequered flag was waved and lost a wheel halfway through the lap.
The race went 126 laps with two safety cars. Ahead of the epic three-your night race there were two 30-minute sprint events.
In the first Mecklem was the leader for the first six laps before passed by Kearns who had the front running to the end of the 19-lap race.
Gooley was third initially before passed by Walker. He was then engrossed in a battle with Quinn who looked to have snared fourth on the last lap, but Gooley edged him out in the run to the flag.
Gersekowski was next from Hayman, Karlie Buccini, Shinkfield and Camilleri. Jarvis won Class D when Cacaviello and O’Connor clashed at Turn 3 which took them both out.
Carr took out the second race after he took the lead early in the race. Morrall finished second with McCutcheon third ahead of Whyte and Gersekowski. Horst was next in front of Paul Buccini, Griffith and Camilleri.
Dixon took Class D will Max Geoghegan was a retirement, stopped out of Turn 3 in the Toyota 86 he was sharing with Angus Baills. Andrew Milford was another out, with steering damage to the Holden Astra he was co-driving Gerard O’Flynn.
The fourth and final round of the Australian Production Car Championship will be at the Winton Wrap on October 31 to November 2.
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