South Australian racer George Gutierrez was on track for another solid result in the Toyota 86 Racing Series until his weekend was derailed after being an innocent victim in a fellow competitors accident at Sandown Raceway.
A top ten result was on the cards for Gutierrez in the third race of the weekend, until the Adelaidian was caught up in multi-car crash that caused the race to be called early.
Two of his rivals made contact while jostling for position ahead of him, while Gutierrez took avoiding action, he was collected by one of the cars after it bounced off the concrete wall. To make matters worse his Toyota 86, while stuck stationary on the track, was hit again for a second time by another competitor, causing additional damage.
Gutierrez walked away from the crash, but the incident left him and his small family run team a huge job to get him back on track at Bathurst in just three weeks time.
“We found ourselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m okay, just feeling a little sore now,” said Gutierrez after the weekend.
“The car is pretty beat up and is going to take a huge amount of work to get ready for Bathurst in 3 weeks time. My team are a bunch of legends and I trust that we will do our very best to get the car race ready again.”
“We’ve already been on the phone to CMI Toyota to organise the replacement parts we need to get back on track, but it’s going to be a huge task to get the car rebuilt in time.”
“Total damage bill has crept up over $7000 already. Which has put a huge dent in our budget for the remainder of the year.”
Prior to the final race, Gutierrez made solid progress as he continued to learn another new circuit during his first full national level campaign. He qualified 17th before moving up to 13th in the first race. While a wet second race saw him drop back to 15th after sitting in 11th prior to the safety car restart.
George would like once again to thank all his sponsors for their continued support.
Bright Earth Electrical
CMI Toyota
Sunterra
Aisin/Bremtec
Coffee Amigo
AutoLinc
Digital Marketing Trible
GP Racegear
To help keep his campaign on track after the unexpected additional expense, George is also seeking personal backers for the remainder of the year by offering micro-sponsorships for just $100.
Toyota 86 Racing Series 2018 Schedule:
Races 1, 2 & 3 WD-40 Phillip Island 500 April 20-22
Races 4, 5 & 6 Watpac Townsville 400 July 6-8
Races 7, 8 & 9 The Bend SuperSprint August 24-26
Races 10, 11 & 12 Sandown September 14-16
Races 13, 14 & 15 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 October 4-7
Races 16, 17 & 18 Coates Hire Newcastle 500 November 23-25
