Australian Manufacturers’ Championship teams are currently commencing practice for Round 3 of the 2013 season at Queensland Raceway while awaiting the final results of a controversial previous round.
The Sydney Motorsport Park event ended with the race leading Stuart Kostera/Dylan Thomas CXC Global Mitsubishi Lancer in pitlane after the former, without radio communications, stopped for fuel just as the race’s 1705 time cut-off was reached.
The car was subsequently classified as a non-finisher, handing the win to the Beric Lynton/Tim Leahey Alphera BMW 1M.
The Alphera entry and the second-placed Grant Sherrin/Ian Sherrin BMW 135i were both subsequently placed under a cloud relating to the eligibility of their intercoolers.
Following a meeting of the CAMS Eligibility Committee last week, race stewards are expected to throw both BMWs out of the results.
Pending the decision on the GXC Global team’s appeal of its classification, the changes would hand a belated win to the Garry Holt/Ryan McLeod Mitsubishi, with the Michael Benton/Geoff Russell FPV GT and Jake Williams/Brendan Stone Honda Integra filling an unlikely podium.
Shannons Nationals director Rob Curkpatrick confirmed to Speedcafe.com that final decisions are set to be made before racing at Ipswich commences on Saturday.
“There has been some controversy and it will be good to get a resolution,” he said.
“Eligibility is an issue and we’ve put a lot of effort this year into the technical side of the category to make sure that we’re getting it right.
“It’s working well but it’s something we need to build on.”
Twenty-one cars have been entered for this weekend’s meeting, which will repeat the 2012 Ipswich format see of 200km races taking place on Saturday night and Sunday evening respectively.
Outright honours are again set to be fought out between the Mitsubishi and BMW runners, which make up the entire the six-car Class A field.
The late entry of a third FPV GT has bolstered the Class B ranks, while Class I will see the debut of Pieter Faulkner, the son of former Australian touring car privateer John.
Faulkner will compete in Racer Industries’ Holden Astra alongside fellow circuit racing debutant Jason Hore.
