Rizzo claims breakthrough Speedcafe eSeries Championship victory

Ross Rizzo has claimed a breakthrough victory in Round 3 of the Speedcafe eSeries Championship at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

Rizzo converted his pole position to victory in the 32-lap race, taking the chequered flag ahead of Lachlan Caple (Mercedes), with Dylan O’Shea (Ferrari) claiming the final step on the podium, as back-to-back race winner Damon Woods finished a lowly 15th after a pit-lane speeding infringement.

In Qualifying, Rob Carmichael set the early benchmark with a 1:26.728s, holding sway until the 24-minute mark, with Caple blasting to the top of the timesheets with a 1:26.640s, before Rizzo surpassed him with a 1:26.445s.

Woods staked his claim for P1 with a 1:26.075s, before Rizzo blasted a 1:25.966s to seal pole position by 0.109s.

Rizzo was joined by Woods on the front of the grid, ahead of Caple, with Mathew Dench fourth.

Wayne Hewitt, O’Shea, Chris Ireland, Jason Bence, Luke Mitchinson and Carmichael rounded out the top 10.

At the drop of the green flag, Rizzo blasted into the lead ahead of Woods and Dench, as Hewitt dropped down the order after going off the track in the opening sequence of corners.

He was not the only frontrunner to have drama early in the piece, with contact between Mitchinson and Ireland on Lap 2 sending the latter off track and out of the top 10.

As the field settled, Rizzo led the opening laps before Woods attempted a move on him for first with a pass on Lap 8, before running wide allowing the former to re-take the lead.

A chaotic Lap 9 saw Sebastian Varndell go off the track while battling with Carmichael, before Brodie Shepherd fired off the track.

Later that lap, Rizzo ran wide after Siberia, allowing Woods to make a high-speed move for the lead of the race at the Hayshed.

After 10 laps, it was Woods from Rizzo, Dench, Caple, O’Shea, Jason Bence, Sebastian Flock, Mitchell McLeod, Carmichael and Willison.

Bence spun out of sixth place on his own accord at MG on Lap 12, with Mitchinson also involved in an incident on that same lap, before Ireland and Tyson Hanmer spun in unison after contact was made coming out of Southern Loop on Lap 13.

A crucial moment saw Rizzo pull into pitlane from second to complete his compulsory stop at the end of Lap 14, before Dench was involved in an collision with Aaron Obersteller on Lap 15, resulting in him dropping to sixth in the order before he filed into pit lane.

There was chaos on Lap 17, with a three-way collision between Jamie McKnight and at MG, with Riley Bilson managing to sneak his way through.

Lap 18 proved to be decisive in the context of the race, as Caple pitted from second, allowing O’Shea and Carmichael to move up into the podium positions, as McLeod ran off into the grass on the entry into pit lane, causing him to collide with the tyre barrier.

Several moments later, the race-leading Woods entered the pit lane to complete his compulsory stop, before he was found speeding in pit lane, resulting in him having to serve a 40s penalty in his pit box, as Carmichael led the race from Adam Willison and Kenny Conomos, with Robbie Bradbury fourth and Rizzo in fifth.

Conomos took the race lead on Lap 20, as Carmichael and Willison completed their stops, with Rizzo moving up to second and Caple third.

Rizzo assumed the lead on Lap 21, remaining unheaded from there on to take the chequered flag from Caple, with O’Shea rounding out the podium.

Dench was fourth from Sebastian Flock, with Willison, Carmichael, Kenny Conomos, Zach Rattray-White and Simon Mezzomo rounding out the top 10.

Following the race, Dench now leads the championship on 131 points, with Woods second on 120 points, while Caple is third on 100 points.

Pre-qualifying for Round 4 of the Speedcafe eSeries Championship at Sandown International Motor Raceway will take place from Friday, May 5 – Wednesday, May 10, with the race itself to take place on Friday, May 12.

Register here for the Speedcafe eSeries Championship to get involved in the high-speed GT3 category.

2023 Speedcafe eSeries Championship Round 3 Results

1	1		Hosted All Cars	784	Ross Rizzo	1	Running	Laps		20	1:28.840	1:26.636	3	31	0	Australia/NZ
2	2		Hosted All Cars	18	Lachlan Caple	3	Running	Laps	-04.347	0	1:28.980	1:26.596	3	31	0	Australia/NZ
3	3		Hosted All Cars	19	Dylan O’Shea	6	Running	Laps	-06.766	0	1:29.058	1:26.953	3	31	2	Australia/NZ
4	4		Hosted All Cars	83	Mathew Dench	4	Running	Laps	-09.461	0	1:29.145	1:26.731	2	31	2	Australia/NZ
5	5		Hosted All Cars	84	Sebastian Flock	11	Running	Laps	-18.284	0	1:29.430	1:26.956	3	31	0	Australia/NZ
6	6		Hosted All Cars	98	Adam Willison	16	Running	Laps	-23.574	0	1:29.600	1:27.543	5	31	0	Australia/NZ
7	7		Hosted All Cars	124	Rob Carmichael	10	Running	Laps	-25.930	1	1:29.676	1:27.339	3	31	1	Australia/NZ
8	8		Hosted All Cars	022	Kenny Conomos	13	Running	Laps	-26.689	1	1:29.701	1:27.192	3	31	0	Australia/NZ
9	9		Hosted All Cars	20	Zach Rattray-White	12	Running	Laps	-26.914	0	1:29.708	1:27.552	5	31	0	Australia/NZ
10	10		Hosted All Cars	954	Simon Mezzomo	21	Running	Laps	-27.278	0	1:29.719	1:27.543	6	31	4	Australia/NZ
11	11		Hosted All Cars	85	Marlon J McMullen	18	Running	Laps	-29.369	0	1:29.787	1:27.732	3	31	2	Australia/NZ
12	12		Hosted All Cars	40	Mitchell McLeod	15	Running	Laps	-30.646	0	1:29.828	1:27.356	19	31	2	Australia/NZ
13	13		Hosted All Cars	995	Riley Bilson	19	Running	Laps	-36.327	0	1:30.011	1:27.543	17	31	14	Australia/NZ
14	14		Hosted All Cars	117	Matt Bayley	24	Running	Laps	-36.484	0	1:30.016	1:27.380	3	31	6	Australia/NZ
15	15		Hosted All Cars	56	Damon Woods	2	Running	Laps	-40.740	9	1:27.810	1:26.634	3	31	1	Australia/NZ
16	16		Hosted All Cars	32	Luke A Brown	27	Running	Laps	-43.070	0	1:30.229	1:27.588	3	31	0	Australia/NZ
17	17		Hosted All Cars	100	Jason Bence	8	Running	Laps	-43.554	0	1:30.245	1:26.885	3	31	4	Australia/NZ
18	18		Hosted All Cars	17	Alistair Bailes	26	Running	Laps	-47.425	0	1:30.369	1:28.039	4	31	1	Australia/NZ
19	19		Hosted All Cars	035	Robbie Bradbury	29	Running	Laps	-47.576	0	1:30.374	1:28.052	7	31	0	Australia/NZ
20	20		Hosted All Cars	092	Jarryd Knight	22	Running	Laps	-47.934	0	1:30.543	1:27.658	6	31	2	Australia/NZ
21	21		Hosted All Cars	04	Luke Mitchinson	9	Running	Laps	-49.930	0	1:30.542	1:27.082	3	31	3	Australia/NZ
22	22		Hosted All Cars	027	Jamie McKnight	23	Running	Laps	-50.944	0	1:30.483	1:27.618	3	31	9	Australia/NZ
23	23		Hosted All Cars	8	Fitzroy Beaumont	34	Running	Laps	-51.122	0	1:30.488	1:28.156	3	31	1	Australia/NZ
24	24		Hosted All Cars	72	Wayne G Hewitt	5	Running	Laps	-54.062	0	1:30.584	1:27.664	3	31	5	Australia/NZ
25	25		Hosted All Cars	61	Steven Bartholomew	30	Running	Laps	-59.930	0	1:30.772	1:27.813	20	31	2	Australia/NZ
26	26		Hosted All Cars	22	Jackson Austin2	39	Running	Laps	-1:00.428	0	1:30.788	1:27.939	4	31	2	Australia/NZ
27	27		Hosted All Cars	46	Cameron Edwards2	32	Running	Laps	-1:09.033	0	1:31.066	1:27.790	7	31	2	Australia/NZ
28	28		Hosted All Cars	623	Christopher Ireland	7	Running	Laps	-1:19.631	0	1:31.504	1:27.867	9	31	13	Australia/NZ
29	29		Hosted All Cars	36	Brodie Shepherd	17	Running	Laps	-1:21.906	0	1:31.482	1:27.301	21	31	5	Australia/NZ
30	30		Hosted All Cars	5	Seth I Brown	31	Running	Laps	-1:22.349	0	1:31.496	1:27.485	19	31	5	Australia/NZ
31	31		Hosted All Cars	28	Leigh Williamson	25	Running	Laps	-1:23.427	0	1:31.486	1:27.494	27	31	10	Australia/NZ
32	32		Hosted All Cars	41	Amar Sharma	38	Running	Laps	-1 L	0	1:31.583	1:27.804	4	30	7	Australia/NZ
33	33		Hosted All Cars	21	Luke Di Berardino	40	Running	Laps	-1 L	0	1:32.101	1:28.348	18	30	4	Australia/NZ
34	34		Hosted All Cars	39	Chiu Kang	37	Running	Laps	-1 L	0	1:32.164	1:27.857	4	30	6	Australia/NZ
35	35		Hosted All Cars	86	Chris Pellatt	35	Running	Laps	-1 L	0	1:32.494	1:28.085	4	30	8	Australia/NZ
36	36		Hosted All Cars	31	Tyson Hanmer	36	Running	Laps	-1 L	0	1:33.021	1:28.250	7	30	7	Australia/NZ
37	37		Hosted All Cars	127	Russ Green2	28	Running	Laps	-1 L	0	1:31.069	1:27.988	16	30	6	Australia/NZ
38	38		Hosted All Cars	23	Aaron Obersteller2	33	Running	Laps	-1 L	0	1:34.295	1:27.610	4	30	12	Australia/NZ
39	39		Hosted All Cars	900	Andre F. Yousiff	20	Disconnected	Laps	-10 L	0	1:34.601	1:27.307	20	21	8	Australia/NZ
40	40		Hosted All Cars	4	Sebastian Varndell	14	Running	Laps	-13 L	0	1:34.423	1:27.199	3	18	11	Australia/NZ