Penalties re-set Darwin TA2 podium

Jackson Rice and Tyler Everingham have been handed a belated penalty after last week’s Round 2 of the TA2 Muscle Car Series at Hidden Valley, Darwin.

The second-place finishers have been demoted to fourth after post-race investigations confirmed that the Pedders Mustang had not completed its mandatory 90-second pit stop.

The car was deemed to have left its pit bay early in the 35-lap feature race and has had 30 seconds added to its race time.

Additionally, Graham Cheney and Edan Thornburrow, who finished the race in third in the IES Camaro, have been given a 15-second penalty for mid-race contact with the Mustang of Brad Gartner and Max Vidau. With the penalty Cheney/Thornburrow drop to sixth.

While Dylan Thomas and Tim Brook maintain the win in the CXC Mustang they shared, and the $20,000 cash that goes with it, the revised results put Nathan Herne and Paul Manuell (Challenger) up to second place with Gartner and Vidau third ahead of Rice and Thornburrow.

“Great to get a podium and know it was fair all round. Compliments to the TA2 category on an amazing well-run event,” Gartner said.

“I loved the two-driver format and hopefully it’s in the calendar again in the future. Thanks to Max who was a star over the weekend and continually works to help make me a better driver!”

Thomas leads the series after two rounds, on 401 points, while despite the penalty Rice maintains his second overall position with 390 points.

Nick Bates (Mustang), who raced with Josh Haynes at the event, sits third on 368 points and leads the Circo Masters Award.

Eighteen-year-old Hayden Hume (Challenger) heads the Racetech Rookie of the Year Award, while Haynes, Lee Stibbs (Camaro) and Cheney are all still well within reach of the championship title.

Round three of the TA2 Series will be held at Queensland Raceway on June 2-4 as part of QR’s ‘2 Days of Thunder’ meeting.