Cold, wind, and at times, rain greeted competitors for the first day of the sixth round of the Shannons SpeedSeries at Sandown.
Ahead of three qualifying sessions, for National Trans Am, the combined Monochrome GT4 Australia/Mobil 1 Australian Production Cars and MARC Cars Australia, there were practice sessions for Supercheap Autos TCR Australia, Kumho V8 Touring Cars and Australian Formula Open.
In the last TCR Australia round before the two events that will be part of the TCR World Tour, Will Brown continued his form from the fourth round at Queensland Raceway by being the pacesetter in the first practice outing.
But it was tight at the top, with Jordan Cox (Peugeot 308) just 0.015s off the Audi SR3 driver’s best lap. The reigning title holder, Tony D’Alberto, was third quickest in the Wall Racing Honda, ahead of Peugeot pilots Ben Bargwanna and Aaron Cameron. Points leader Josh Buchan (Hyundai Elantra) was 13th, several spots behind teammate Bailey Sweeny (Hyundai i20N), who is just one point off the series lead.
The times were quicker in the second session, where Zac Soutar (Audi) was the fastest, in front of D’Alberto, Bargwanna, Cox, Sweeny and Kody Garland (Peugeot), who didn’t practice earlier. Buchan was next ahead of Brit Tom Oliphant (Lynk & Co), who missed the last round due to his wedding in England. Tenth was Lachlan Mineeff (Audi), but he was just 1s off Soutar’s best of the day.
After two thirds at the preceding rounds, Trans Am points leader James Moffat (Mustang) bounced back to the top when he qualified fastest in the fifth round. He followed through from heading both practice sessions to have a handy 0.4s advantage over his nearest rival.
Ben Grice (Mustang) will share the front row for the first of four races, while Camaro driver Elliot Barbour and last-round three-race winner Tom Hayman (Mustang) make up the second row. Mustangs, in the hands of Round 3 winner Lochie Dalton, Edan Thornburrow and Nash Morris, were the next three ahead of Brett Holdsworth (Camaro). The Racing Academy duo of Elliott Cleary and Dody Gillis will start Race 1 on the fifth row in their Mustangs.
Shane Smollen’s run of poles in GT4 aboard his Porsche Cayman was put to the test by Karl Begg (McLaren 570S), but the points leader prevailed by 0.2s. It was a GT4 top three, with Mark Griffith (Mercedes AMG) third ahead of the best of the Production Cars.
Grant Sherrin (Class X BMW M4) was fourth quickest overall and ahead of Coleby Cowham (Class A2 Ford Mustang), Cameron Crick (Class A1 Mitsubishi EVO X) and Iain Sherrin (M4). After them were two GT4 BMWs in the hands of Steve Jukes and Jacob Lawrence. The former was back after an incident in the earlier practice session at Turn 5 that brought that session to a premature conclusion.
Tony Levitt (A2 Mercedes C63) was 10th in front of Paul Buccini (A1 BMW 140i), Hadrian Morrall (EVO X) and Brian Callaghan (A2 HSV Clubsport). Renee Gracie (GT4 Ginetta G55) was 15th behind Mick Rowell (Mustang), while Jake Camilleri (Mazda 3 MPS) was the best of the Class C cars.
The first of two sessions for MARC Cars was red-flagged twice before Geoff Taunton was fastest overall in his MARC GT, ahead of Cameron Tilley in an older spec MARC I Mazda, John Goodacre (MARC GT) and Jake Camilleri (MARC I Mazda). In qualifying, it was Camilleri who was quickest, ahead of McLeod, Taunton, Goodacre and MARC Mustangs driven by Darren Currie and Grant Donaldson.
The first session for V8 Touring Cars was cancelled due to an incident and cleanup in a previous session. In their one and only hit-out for the day, Jamie Tilley was fastest, ahead of fellow Ford Falcon FG drivers Antonio Molluso and series leader Jude Bargwanna. Tony Auddino (Falcon BF) was next in front of Jim Pollicina (Holden Commodore VE).
All the action from Sandown will be live on Stan Sport, Saturday and Sunday, September 9-10, from 11:00am to 5:00pm. Live, free-to-air coverage will also be available on 9Gem or 9Go on Saturday from 2:00pm to 5:00pm AEST.
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