CAMS Australian GT Championship
Despite the race being suspended twice and all of the drama in-between, Tony Bates and Dan Gaunt have won the shortened CAMS Australian GT Championship 101 race.
The pair took the lead late in the race after the second race stoppage, after problems hit the Walkinshaw Porsche of Liam Talbot and John Martin while they were in the lead.
They ultimately did not finish the race, in what looked like a sure win for the Hot Wheels Car Care team.
Steven Richards and Michael Almond raced hard to seal second place for the event, finishing ahead of Max Twigg and Tony D’Alberto who rounded out the podium.
An impressive drive from Andrew Fawcett and Jony Reid saw them fourth in the race, with a fast Geoff Emery and Garth Tander suffering from unfortunate timing in their stops to finish fifth.
Fraser Ross gave it his all to defend Tander, who finished sixth co-driving with Jaxon Evans.
Scott Taylor/Craig Baird, Adrian Deitz/Cameron McConville, Yasser Shahin/Luke Youlden and Tony Walls/Warren Luff rounding out the top 10.
Adam Hargraves was victorious in the MARC Class claiming the win, while GT4 went to Brett Strom and Daren Jorgensen.
The first race stop was caused when Rio Nugara hit the wall at Lukey Heights, in what was a spectacular crash causing a huge amount of damage to his Ginetta.
The second stop to the race was moments after the Safety Car restart from the first incident, where the two GT4s found the wall just before Southern Loop.
Due to time constraints, the race was shortened considerably to repair both of the tyre walls from both of the incidents.
The CAMS Australian GT Championship will now prepare for their next event at Sydney Motorsport Park on 4-5 August.
CAMS PAYCE Australian Formula 4 Championship
With three consecutive race wins and 75 points to his name, Jayden Ojeda has completed a near-perfect weekend for the second round of the CAMS PAYCE Australian Formula 4 Championship.
Fastest in every session bar Friday’s second practice, Ojeda bounced back from missing out on the podium at the previous round in Tasmania with a masterclass performance.
Aaron Love finished a career best second outright for the weekend, making Phillip Island his second consecutive career podium in Australian Formula 4.
Cameron Shields’ lead in the CAMS PAYCE Australian Formula 4 Championship standings diminished greatly today, after encountering a driveline problem at the start of the final race.
Shields’ issue helped Ryan Suhle secure the third and the final podium place for the weekend.
Team BRM’s Lochie Hughes went back-to-back with ‘Burson Auto Parts Rookie of the Round’ honours.
Sunday’s third race saw some impressive performances for many of the rookies in the field, particularly Patrizicorse’s Jackson Walls who bounced back after a difficult second race to finish fourth in the third race, which was the team’s best result of the year.
Antonio Astuti claimed a good haul of points for the single car outfit and speedway to circuit racing convert Ardie Jonic finishing each race in the points.
Round 3 of the CAMS PAYCE Australian Formula 4 Championship will now visit Queensland Raceway on 20–22 July.
Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia
A sensational Phillip Island clean sweep has handed young gun Cooper Murray victory in Round 3 of Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia, while Ben Stack and Christian Pancione claimed their maiden class round wins.
Murray’s faultless weekend began with pole position and a dominant 10-second race one win on Saturday before Murray led Race 2 from its outset, managing the gap to second placed Simon Fallon and third placed Jimmy Vernon to the finish.
Murray’s Race 3 victory did not come as easily as his earlier two wins, with Fallon gaining the lead from the start and retained the front position until Lap 6, when Murray moved into first place, soon followed by Max Vidau into second, before ultimately claiming the win from Vidau and Fallon.
As the season reaches its halfway mark, Murray holds a 47-point lead in the overall standings and a 60-point margin ahead of Fallon in the Pro standings.
The Pro-Am class featured Sunday’s best on-track battles between the class leaders Ben Stack, Danny Stutterd and Marcel Zalloua. After Zalloua claimed Saturday’s Pro-Am win, Stutterd was the best of the trio in race two before Stack claims Pro-Am honours in Race 3, with Stutterd and Stack battling head-to-head throughout Sunday’s two races.
Former kart racer Pancione was the class of the Class B field at Phillip Island in just his third car racing event.
After placing third in class in Saturday’s race one, Pancione claim class victory in Sunday’s two races. While he finished equal on points with David Greig, his race three win handed him his maiden class round win. West Australian Andrew Goldie capped a strong weekend with third in Class B for the round.
Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia will return for Round 4 at Queensland Raceway on 27-29 July.
Radical Australia Cup
Yasser Shahin and James Winslow’s double race victories handed them the round win in Radical Australia Cup.
Despite a firm compulsory pit stop time, the duo went on to take today’s victory, starting from the front row after yesterday’s epic fight to finish first.
Impressive in the field this weekend was also Sue Hughes, who was driving with her son Jon Collins this weekend.
The pair came home second for the round, with Hughes saying on the podium that a new set-up thanks to the pairing’s height difference helped her with her race pace.
Kim Burke rounded out the podium with third for the round.
Chris Perini finished fourth for the Phillip Island event, with Peter Clare and Brad/Mitchell Neilson finishing fifth and sixth respectively.
Disqualification hurt any chance of Nathan Kumar finishing on the podium this weekend, receiving a penalty after coming in underweight by 1-kilogram after finishing second in yesterday’s opening race.
The series will now prepare for their next round, racing at their home circuit at Sydney Motorsport Park on 21-23 September.
The Shannons Nationals will head to Queensland Raceway for the next round of the season, racing at the Ipswich circuit on 28-29 July.
