Steven Lacey believes consistency will be key if he is to have any chance of surpassing National Sports Sedan Series star Steve Tamasi for the 2021 title.
As it stands, Lacey currently sits second place on the standings and just nine points behind Tamasi after finishing the season opener at Wakefield Park in second place.
While he didn’t win a race that weekend, he finished all three races inside the top five, including a second place in race two. Whereas number of other more high-profile drivers like Thomas Randle and Andre Heimgartner were far less consistent.
Randle won race one, but retired from race two, while Heimgartner steered his Aston Martin to 11th and 10th in the opening two races before getting his win in the final outing.
And it’s that strategy of consistency that has seen Lacey be a top contender for more than a decade on not just the national stage, but in the state series as well.
“We’re quite happy with where we are at the moment, despite an obvious gap between us and Steven in terms of overall race pace,” Lacey said.
“Our result at Wakefield came down to consistency because we’re not as fast as some of the other cars that compete, but we finished every race and that’s how we have always done well.
“For me, it’s about clocking points. We try and get the best out of the car every time we are racing, regardless of the level, but we can only get so far at some levels and it’s our best strategy.
“We’re doing quite well in the state championship as we are third, so I would say that we’re happy with our season so far but would love to get some more racing under our belt.”
With the series having completed just one round this year, two more rounds are scheduled for the remaining months on the calendar with The Bend Motorsport Park and Phillip Island the two destinations.
Both circuits will provide a different challenge to Lacey and the rest of the competitors with the series having last raced at The Bend back in April 2018 – the first ever race meeting at the South Australian track.
For Lacey though, he didn’t have the best of the weekends during that Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships round. However a lot has changed since then, and now the New South Welshman is hoping to redeem himself there.
As for Phillip Island, the 53-year-old has enjoyed plenty of good fortune at the famous circuit and would be hoping for a big result again in November.
However, with COVID-19 jumbling up many different calendars in 2021, Lacey is unsure whether he will attend both rounds.
“The plan now is to attend both rounds. We have transportation and accommodation booked, so now we just need to wait and see,” Lacey explained.
“Because of Bathurst, our state round has been moved to the same day as the Phillip Island round so we have a clash.
“At this point, we will see how we go at The Bend and will make a call after to where we commit too. It’s a shame because we worked hard to make sure we had a schedule that worked and to avoid this, but that’s just the way it is.
“We had a reasonable time at The Bend. It was the first ever meeting there which was cool and we’re really looking forward to getting there again as we really enjoyed it – sans the sandstorm.
“As for Phillip Island, we’ve been going for many years. I think it’s fast and flowing and it offers a great opportunity to stretch the legs for the cars in the series.”
The next round of the National Sports Sedan Series is part of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships at The Bend Motorsport Park on 22-24 October.
