Round 2 of Trophy Series fires up at QR

The second round of the Motorsport Australia Shannons Trophy Series has commenced at Queensland Raceway.

It started with practice for the TGRA Scholarship Series, the Precision International Australian Sports Sedans, Workhorse Radical Cup Australia, Australian Formula Open and a race for Excels.

On the back of the Toyota Gazooo Racing Australia 86 Racing second round last weekend, some drivers backed up to race at Round 4 of the Scholarship Series. They included Alice Buckley and Lachlan Bloxsom, who finished the day first and second, courtesy of their times in the second session.

Third fastest was Glen Ebert, who set his best time in the morning’s first session. Overall, Ebert finished ahead of Connor Roberts, Ben Stewart, Ryan Tomsett, Charlie Parker, Shayne Nowickyj, Mason Harvey and Salvatore Imbrogno.

The first session for the Precision International Sports Sedans stopped just moments after it started. Travis Condon’s Toyota Corolla/Chevrolet V8 dropped the pressure relief valve out of the sump and left oil at Turn 3.

Practice 2 almost went its full schedule, stopping 5 minutes prematurely as Stephen Tamasi (Holden Calibra/Chevrolet) bunkered at Turn 6. Scott Cameron (Holden Commodore/Chev) was already parked on the access road between Turns 3 and 6 with a split block.

Prior to the stoppage Tony Ricciardello (Alfa Romeo/Chevrolet) topped the times at 1:08.9123, half a second in front of Jordan Caruso (Audi/Chevrolet), while series points leader Ash Jarvis (Holden Monaro/Chevrolet) was third quickest.

Steven Lacey secured fourth before an electrical gremlin ended his session early, ahead of fellow Chev Camaro pilot Birol Cetin, Darren Currie (MARC II Mustang), Tamasi, Jake Camilleri (MARC I Mazda) and Chris Donnelly and Ryan Humfrey in their Chev-powered Falcons.

The battle resumes at the second round of the Workhorse Radical Cup Australia between the powerhouse teams – Arise Racing, Garth Walden Racing and Volante Rosso Motorsport.

Jordan Oon and Adam Lisle scored one for the Western Australian squad, Arise, by setting the benchmark for the day at 1:10.9969. The next best on the timesheets was Round 1 race winner Volante Rosso’s Alex Gardner 0.02 away and GWR’s Peter Paddon.

Outside of the top three were Cooper Cutts (AR), Peter Clare/Josh Hunt (VRM), Bart Mawer/Terry Knowles (Desire Racing), Elliott Schutte and Simon Arthur.

At the completion of the third practice outing for Australian Formula Open for their fourth round Ryan How for Tim Macrow Racing in a Dallara F308/11 secured the day’s best lap with a 1:05.8853 to be 0.33s on series points leader and fastest in Practice 1 Trent Grubel (TMR Dallara F312).

Gilmour Racing Dallara F308/11 drivers Chris Gilmour and Jon Collins were third and fourth and just 0.05s apart, and ahead of the F308/11s driven by Ryan Astley (fastest in the last session), Miles Bromley, and Winston Van Laarhoven. The best of the F4s in both sessions was AGI Sport’s Brodie Norris (Mygale).

At the end of the day, there was a race for a big field of Excels. There was a group of seven fighting at the front early, but by the end, and after numerous lead changes, Jack Wood took the win just in front of Jaylyn Robotham, Tyler Collins and pole-sitter George Wood. Zane Rinaldi slipped away from them due to a moment at Turn 4 while Treigh Maschotta had drive problems and limped home 19th.