Supercheap Auto TCR Australia
From start to finish, Zac Soutar never looked in danger of losing the opening race of the fifth round. The Tufflift Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR driver was the pole winner in the top six second qualifier and grabbed the lead from the outset.
Dylan O’Keeffe qualified his Ash Seward Motorsport Lynk & Co CO fifth before a brilliant start had him in third spot in the run up the hill. He was then able to slip under points leader Josh Buchan (HMO Customer Racing Hyundai Elantra TCR) in the Chase for second which he would hold throughout.
Brad Harris (Wall Racing Honda Civic) crossed the finish line fourth, however he would be penalised for a false start and relegated one place behind Buchan’s teammate Tom Oliphant (Hyundai i30N).
From second on the grid, Will Harris (Honda) faired badly off the start and was fifth at the end of Lap 1. A moment on the second tour, dropped him to 10th. He was able to regather to sixth on the road but ultimately finished ninth.
Ahead of him were the new Peugeot P51 308s driven by Jordan Cox, Ryan Casha and Ben Bargwanna while the fourth car out of the GRM stable, for Aaron Cameron failed to start due to a power steering issue.
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Meguiar’s Australian Production Cars
The first of four 30min races to round out the season was won by Dean Campbell (BMW M2). Despite a safety car and only eight laps, Campbell won by 5.8s over a close tussle between early race leader Iain Sherrin and Simon Hodges in their BMW M4s as the Class X cars filled the top three spots.
Fourth and fifth went to the Class A2 front runners Chris Lillis (Chev Camaro) and Matt Holt (HSV Clubsport R8). Then followed Chris Sutton (A1 Mitsubishi Evo X) ahead of Brian Callaghan (HSV) who battled with Paul Buccini (A1 BMW M140i) after the safety car.
Peter O’Donnell was next in the ageless B1 BMW 335i after Courtney Prince (B1 BMW 135i) was disqualified. Tenth went to Jimmy Manteufel (HSV) who crossed the line backwards after a spin.
Brent Peters (Holden Commodore SSV) won B2 while the Formula RX8 category filled the top spots in Class D. Brock Paine was the best of them in 13th outright with Tom Derwent second in class ahead of Justin Lewis and Justin Barnes. Despite a pit stop, Rob Jarvis (VW Polo GTi) took the Class C points.
The safety car emerged when Nick Smith’s Toyota 86 stopped in the run-off areas after Skyline, and Alex Hoskins parked his 86 on the Conrod Straight grass.
Precision International National Sports Sedans
Victory in Race 1 of the final round has secured Peter Ingram the 2024 title in his first year in the national category.
The triple rotor Mazda RX7 driver qualified fastest and from the outset, had a narrow lead over Geoff Taunton (IRC GTSs) when the race finished behind the safety car.
After a persistent misfire in qualifying, Brad Shiels (turbo twin rotor Fiat 124) was able to climb to third place before the cautionary period ended the race.
Steve Tamasi (Calibra/Chev V8) was also able to improve while the race was green. He was sixth early and finished ahead of Steve Lacey (IRC) and Ash Jarvis (Monaro/Chev).
After he missed qualifying because of a steering rack mount failure in his Dodge powered Chev Corvette, Paul Boschert started rear of grid, picked up several spots before he spun off into the tyres at Turn 2 and brought out the safety car.
First Focus Radical Cup Australia
Arise Racing’s Cooper Cutts recorded a comprehensive victory in the first 50min race of the final round which included a mandatory 92s pit stop/transition period. In doing so, he reduced the title deficit to 37 points behind Garth Walden Racing’s Peter Paddon with 90 on offer in the final 50min race on Sunday.
Paddon finish 32.5s behind in second place while third went to Chris Reindler and Bryce Moore in the first of the two-driver outfits. It was a tight finish behind Nick Kelly with Mark Brame and Bart Mawer who took over from Terry Knowles next.
One of the favourite two-driver line ups was Peter Clare and Josh Hunt. However Clare pitted at the end of the first lap with a misfire and a plug change. Stephen Champion and Bill Medland both came in early after they had damage from contact at Turn 2.
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