Ferrari Challenge Australasia
Armstrong was able to lead from lights to flag, the Kiwi Porsche regular and father of IndyCar Series driver Marcus taking his first victory in Ferrari Challenge.
Despite setting a lap good enough for pole, Antoine Gittany was forced to start in position four due to a yellow flag infringement in qualifying.
Armstrong capitalised on a slightly slow start by pole-sitter Cheng to take the lead at turn one, never looking back.
Gittany, Cheng, and Jim Pollicina battled for the podium positions, allowing Armstrong to build a five second lead.
Gittany forced his car three-wide at turn one on lap six, capitalising on a failed passing move by Cheng on Pollicina.
Cheng was able to keep second position, but the pair came to blows on lap nine.
Heading into Murray’s Corner, Gittany attempted a move down the inside, with Cheng running defensively.
Cheng eased over towards the centre of the road, making contact with Gittany and forcing the reigning champion into the grass, leaping spectacularly over the kerb at the final corner and into the gravel.
As the field compressed behind the safety car, Gittany was quick to show his frustration to Cheng with a questioning hand gesture.
The race finished under the control of the safety car, with Armstrong leading home Pollicina and Rod Wilson.
Cheng was penalised 15s and dropped from third to 11th position.
Duggan Family Hotels Combined Sedans
Brad Shiels enjoyed a second win of the weekend in race two, again leading lights to flag in a largely untroubled effort.
Shiels got the jump as Steven Lacey once again got away to a slow start, allowing Ben Gomersall and Nathan Herne past.
As the field wound its way around Mount Panorama, Lachy Harburg was spun heavily into the wall at The Esses following contact with the Porsche of Andy Hall.
Harburg was able to limp the damaged IRC around to an opening on Conrod Straight, keeping the race under green flag conditions.
The race stayed largely incident free, allowing Mark Duggan and Blake Tracey to carve their way through the field under green flag running, both back into the top 20 by the halfway point after starting at the rear.
Duggan’s charge back through the field came after a driveline failure took the Sports Sedans Aston Martin out of contention on lap one in race one.
The charge came to an end when Duggan attempted to follow Tracey up the inside of the Saab Sports Sedan of Anthony Cox, making contact and sending the pair into the tyre barrier at Griffin’s Bend.
The Saab was unable to continue, drawing the first and only safety car of race one.
The race finished under the control of the safety car, with Shiels taking victory over Lacey and Herne.
Shiels capped off a perfect weekend with the rotary-powered Fiat 124 with a third win in three races.
Shiels ran away at the front of the field, lapping just 0.3s over the cut-off lap time of 2:05s.
Steven Lacey once again could not match Shiels at the start, getting caught in the middle of a three wide battle with Herne and Gomersall into turn one, locking up both front tyres in the process.
Further back, Scott Taylor made contact with another entry, damaging his 997 GT3R and pulling off to the inside of the first corner exit.
Jason Miller found the wall at The Cutting on the opening lap, drawing the first and only safety car of the race.
Trouble almost erupted at the back of the pack on the restart, as Anthony Levitt nearly collected the back of a number of cars as the field compressed into Murray’s Corner.
Back at the front of the field, Shiels built a gap of nearly eight seconds on the restart lap, while Ryan MacMillan worked his way to second position.
The race was cut short by two laps due to the safety car, leaving Shiels to come home almost eight seconds ahead of MacMillan, with Lacey in third.
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