The Australian Manufacturers’ Championship is set to complete a 200km race under lights as part of Queensland Raceway’s upcoming round of the Shannons Nationals.
The revised race schedule will see the production car class contest 200km races on the Saturday and Sunday of the August 10-12 event, with start times of 1745 and 1630 respectively.
A yet-to-be-finalised number of portable lights will be used to illuminate the 3.12km venue for the occasion, although conditions during Saturday’s race are expected to remain dark enough for competitors to be required to run with operating headlights.
A twilight race for the Porsche Staff Solutions International GT3 Cup Challenge will precede the opening AMC race, while the Kumho V8 Touring Car Series, Kerrick Sports Sedans Series, Hi-Tec Oils Swift Racing Series, Radical Australia Cup, Australian Saloon Cars Series and Australian Superkart Championship are also on the weekend program.
According to Shannons Nationals director Rob Curkpatrick, the night racing will add a unique element to the event, which sees the series return to Queensland Raceway for the first time since 2007.
“We’ve always had the goal of making each event unique,” Curkpatrick told Speedcafe.com of the night format.
“Queensland Raceway is a big event for us. It’s our only visit to Queensland, and when we put the calendar to our competitors at the beginning of the year and asked who wanted to go where there was a lot of demand for QR.
“We’ve ended up with an event with eight categories, and some of those have longer races, so extending the program into the night is a great way to give everyone the track time they wanted.
“(Category manager) Aaron McGill came up with the idea of running a night race for the Australian Manufacturers Championship, and we think it will be a great way to showcase that series.”
A fireworks display is also planned for directly after the Saturday night race, which Curkpatrick says could become an annual event.
Stuart Kostera currently heads the drivers’ standings after the opening three rounds of the 2012 Australian Manufacturers Championship.
The Mitsubishi Evo X driver sits two points ahead of TMR co-driver Inky Tulloch, with recent Phillip Island race winner Dylan Thomas a further 71 points adrift in third.
