CAMS Australian GT Championship
The CAMS Australian GT Championship had their qualifying session with Max Twigg and Tony D’Alberto taking pole for tomorrow’s race.
John Martin and Liam Talbot will share the front row on second, ahead of Yasser Shahin and Luke Youlden.
Current CAMS Australian Endurance champion Peter Hackett and Jake Fouracre will start fourth, with Jaie Robson and David Reynolds to start fifth.
An updated schedule will be released soon regarding tomorrow’s racing for the CAMS Australian GT Championship.
Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia
Champion kart-racer Cooper Murray has had a pleasant introduction into circuit racing, taking the first race win for the 2018 Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia season.
The 16-year-old crossed the line nearly 20-seconds ahead of young-gun Max Vidau, who was equally as impressive on debut finishing second.
On his return from Europe, Luis Leeds rounded out the podium with third.
Stepping up from Formula 4 this season is Simon Fallon, who started from pole position for the season opening race, coming home fourth on debut.
Chelsea Angelo finished fifth, ahead of Jimmy Vernon.
Daniel Stutterd was seventh, with Sam Shahin, Brett Boulton and Michael Hovey rounding out the top 10.
The series returns for a further two races tomorrow to complete their opening round for the year.
National Sports Sedan Series
Jack Perkins has made a stunning return to the National Sport Sedan Series, winning the first race of the season at The Bend Motorsport Park.
On his way to also breaking the lap record with a 1:50.1771, Perkins shared the front row with pole sitter Thomas Randle, who unfortunately retired before the start of the race with a mechanical failure.
Steven Tamasi finished alongside Perkins for the season opening race, with 10-time champion Tony Ricciardello rounding out the podium.
Victorian Shane Woodman crossed the line fourth, ahead of the MARC Cars entry of Jake Camilleri.
Shane Bradford was sixth, ahead of Steven Lacey, Ron Moller, Phil Crompton and John Goodacre rounding out the top 10.
The series returns tomorrow for a further two races.
Australian Prototype Series presented by Hot Wheels
Darren Barlow has charged to his first national-level race victory, in the opening race in the 2018 Australian Prototype Series presented by Hot Wheels.
The Garth Walden Racing Stohr WF1 driver made the best start from the second row of the grid and led the field in the opening laps of today’s 8-lap dash at The Bend Motorsport Park, besting the pole sitter Peter Paddon into the first corner and then benefited when the Radical driver made a mistake late in the race, dropping within one-second of the leader to outside the top three.
Having focused his energy on state-level racing in the last few seasons, Barlow’s victory came after Radicals had dominated qualifying earlier in the day with Peter Paddon and Kim Burke locking out the front row.
After a slow start, Paddon battled with Jason Makris in the early stages before working his way past the fast-starting Wolf GB08.
He then set about closing the margin to Barlow, reducing a five-second deficit to just one before making a mistake at Turn 7 and dropping back to fourth.
Though he would ultimately recover one spot to third, Barlow ultimately beat home Makris by more than 20 seconds; though the finishing order will not show how competitive the race was.
Makris’ strong second-place represented a positive debut for the still-new Wolf, while Paddon’s third place made it three brands in the top three at the finish.
Mitchell Nielson and John-Paul Drake completed the top five – Drake having run higher before running off the road and dropping spots.
Phil Hughes stormed from 11th on the grid to sixth, while Scott Mackay making up even more positions – moving from 14th to seventh at the finish.
Defending champion Mark Laucke battled his way to 16th position with a lack of power in his West WX10, the team as yet unable to source the problem.
The opening round of the series will conclude with two races tomorrow.
Radical Australia Cup
The Radical shared by Brad and Michael Neilson has stormed to victory, as the Radical Australia Cup hit the The Bend Motorsport Park circuit for their first race laps.
Chris Medland crossed the line second, with Simon Haggarty completing the top three.
Local driver Michael Whiting was fourth, ahead of the RA Motorsports pair of Kim Burke and Rowan Ross finishing fifth and sixth respectively.
Tony Haggarty, Bill Medland, Peter Clare and Greg Kenny rounded out the top 10.
Radical Australia Cup returns on track for another 50-minute race tomorrow morning.
Group S Racing
Rusty French and Wayne Seabrook have taken a pair of race wins in the Group S Racing class, in what was their debut at the new South Australian circuit.
French took Race 1 victory ahead of Tony Floerani and Wayne Seabrook, with Doug Barbour and James Calvert-Jones rounding out the top five.
Although French led majority of the second race, he failed to finish, handing the Race victory to Seabrook.
Floerani was second, with Barbour, Calvert-Jones and Simon Meyer rounding out the top fie positions.
Group S Racing return tomorrow for a further two races.
Heritage Touring Cars
Jack Le Brocq and Mark Eddy have shared race wins, during the Heritage Touring Cars races at The Bend.
Le Brocq took out the first race victory of the event, leading the field by 10 seconds, with Adrian Allisey, Bill Cutler, David Towe and Ed Singleton rounding out the top five postions.
Due to a mechanical issue, Le Brocq unfortunately did not start the second race, however plans to be back out on track tomorrow.
Eddy won the second race of the event, finishing ahead of Towe, Allisey, Cutler and Phillip Verwoert.
