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The Supports at the Bathurst 1000 were racing on Friday with Porsche Carrera Cup in their longer Enduro Cup while Toyota 86s, V8 SuperUtes and Sports Sedans had sprint races on Mount Panorama.
Porsche Carrera Cup Australia
Non-regulars in the local series have dominated the opening race of Round 6 with Harry King and Harri Jones crossing the line well clear of Chris Van Der Drift. Just behind the latter was the best of the regular Equity Pro drivers in Dylan O’Keeffe, Fabian Coulthard and Jackson Walls.
Jones who won the series last year and has been racing in Europe this year, was on pole but the Jones Motorsport driver started poorly which allowed Englishman King, subbing for series leader Callum Hedge with Earl Bamber Motorsport, to bolt away to lead by 2.2s ahead at the end of the first of 15 laps.
“A win anywhere is special but to win on the Mountain of Bathurst is an incredible feeling. It’s up there with one of my proudest wins,” King said.
Jones’ start setback was minor compared to Bayley Hall’s back in the pack when he went into the back of David Wall which resulted in both being out. Wall limped back to the pits while the recovery crew salvaged Hall before the field reappeared.
O’Keeffe was third until the Garth Walden Racing pilot was passed by New Zealander Van Der Drift. In seventh place was Speedcafe-support driver David Russell from Dale Wood, Garnet Patterson, Max Vidau and Nick McBride.
In Pro-Am it was a tearaway win for Liam Talbot who was deputising for Luke King. He was over 6s ahead of class rival Adrian Flack with Sam Shahin third ahead of Matt Belford, Danny Stutterd and Tim Miles.
Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 86 Series
Race 1 could not have gone better for Speedcafe-supported driver Ryan Casha. After starting from pole position, he led immediately and was able to pull a margin of a couple of car lengths before the Safety Car. After that, he had to hold off Jack Westbury and, on the last lap, Clay Richards to not only secure the win but retake the Series lead.
Lachlan Bloxsom was with them until the resumption after the Safety Car but lost a little time. Yet he was able to hold off Cody Burcher and Brock Stinson. Matt Hillyer headed the next group from Bradi Owen, Reuben Goodall and Jarrod Hughes.
Rylan Gray was deposited in the Murray’s Corner gravel trap on the penultimate lap. Campbell Logan worked his way into the top 10 after a poor qualifying but had dramas on the last lap and finished 26th.
V8 SuperUtes Series
The 100th race for the category saw an all-the-way win for Aaron Borg in his Isuzu D-MAX. He had to fend off David Sieders (Mazda BT-50) to take the win by 0.63s. They had a gap on third-placed Ryal Harris (Ford Ranger) who second off the start and before passed by Sieders on Conrod Straight.
Behind Harris it was Craig Woods (Toyota Hilux) in fourth. Closing on him in the latter stages was Speedcafe-supported driver Jimmy Vernon who had displaced series leader Adam Marjoram (Triton) at Griffin Bend midway through the race.
David Casey (D-MAX) was next and at the head of a tight dice made up of George Gutierrez (Holden Colorado), Jaiden Maggs (Triton), Cody Brewczynski (Hilux), Adam Cottrell (Colorado), Holly Espray (D-MAX) and Lachlan Gardner (BT-50).
National Sports Sedan Series
There were more Safety Car laps than race laps over the two encounters. The first was won by Daniel Tamasi (Calibra/Chev) and the second by Tony Ricciardello (Alfa/Chev).
Tamasi started third in Race 1 and was leading by Turn 2. He passed the slow-starting pole sitter Jordan Caruso (Audi/Chev) before Turn 1 and then charged past Tony Ricciardello up Mountain Straight. Brad Shiel (Fiat 124/Rotary Turbo) was due to start on the front row, but a gear change issue forced him to pit before the start.
He was leading Ricciardello, Speedcafe supported driver Ashley Jarvis (Monaro/Chev and Caruso when the Safety Car was deployed. Birol Cetin (Chev Camaro) had contact with Michael Robinson (Monaro/Chev) at Turn 1, and the damage caused Caruso to crash on the way to the Dipper.
Ryan Humfrey (Falcon/Chev) was classified fifth ahead of Mark Duggan (Aston Martin/Chev), Angus Fogg (Ford Mustang), Rick Newman (Ford Falcon), Will Fercher (Toyota 86/Chev) and Jason Crompton (BMW/Chev).
A crack in a wing strut that couldn’t be fixed in time, ruled Tamasi out of Race 2 where Ricciardello led from Caruso, Jarvis and Duggan. Fogg and Humfrey were the next two and they passed Duggan at the Chase.
The Safety Car was out when Paul Boschert (Corvette/Dodge) slid into the gravel trap at Turn 1. Shortly after the race went green, Newman went off at Murray’s Corner which brought out the Safety Car to the finish. In between the cautionary periods, Fogg had passed Jarvis and Shiels had worked his way to sixth.
