The annual Fight in the Night will make its grand return this month when the Shannons SpeedSeries heads to Queensland Raceway for the fifth round of the 2023 season.
The combined Mobil 1 Australian Production Car Series and Monochrome GT4 Australia will light up Queensland’s premier racing circuit when they take to the track for two one-hour races across the weekend – which will be split by the 10th annual two-hour Fight in the Night race scheduled for Saturday night.
Holding the third round of its 2023 season, the combined series will boast the largest field of any category in Ipswich, with an impressive 37 entrants confirmed to compete in one of the category’s biggest races of the year.
Tickets for the event are available for purchase at motorsporttickets.com.au.
There will be plenty of firepower in the GT4 class with series leader Shane Smollen to return in his ever-successful Porsche Cayman 718, only this time, he will have the aid of Supercheap Auto TCR Australia star Lachlan Mineeff – who joins the category for the very first time.
While Smollen has been dominant so far, he, alongside Mineeff, will have to be at the top of their game with the likes of Mark Griffith and Nash Morris, as well as Tony and Ryder Quinn, looking to etch their name into the history books in Queensland.
Morris, who also competed in the last round at Sydney Motorsport Park, won’t be the only National Trans Am Series crossover with Chris Pappas joining Cameron Mcleod in the rapid McLaren 570S.
Also competing in another McLaren 570S will be Karl Begg – who will have the handy aid of 2014 Bathurst 1000 race winner Paul Morris.
Many of the usual suspects will return for the Mobil 1 Australian Production Car Series, including the 2022 race winners Beric Lynton and Tim Leahey. Although, after years of dominating the two-hour race, the duo will go head-to-head this time around after entering separate BMW M3s.
But they won’t be the only familiar FITN pairing that will go their separate ways, with Grant and Iain Sherrin also competing as individual entrants as they have done thus far in 2023 – with both to continue in their respective Sherrin Rentals BMW M4’s.
Coleby Cowham and Lindsay Kearns will team up after an impressive start to the year, while Andrew and George Miedecke will be eager to walk away with a good result after an up-and-down season to date.
Another team to keep an eye on will be Chris Begg and Jett Johnson who are entered in their Btuned Euro Specialist backed BMW E92 M3.
The combined category will take the track for a single practice session on Friday morning before going straight into qualifying early in the afternoon.
The first of three races will then take place at 5:15pm AEST on Friday before the headline two-hour Fight in the Night race takes place from 5:55pm AEST Saturday.
The categories will then round out the weekend’s action with a final one-hour race on Sunday morning – where a round winner will be crowned.
The combined Mobil 1 Australian Production Car Series and Monochrome GT4 Australia will head to Queensland Raceway for the third round of their season on 11-13 August.
