Iain Sherrin etched his name into the history books on the weekend after claiming his first ‘Fight in the Night’ victory as part of the Mobil 1 Australian Production Car Series at Queensland Raceway.
After years of heartbreak in the popular race, Sherrin finally claimed the elusive win at the newly revamped Ipswich circuit after a brilliant last lap overtake on Coleby Cowham and Lindsay Kearns.
With the usual two-hour race being shortened to just over an hour, the advantage fell into Sherrin’s favour with the Queenslander being one of few entries without a co-driver – eliminating any further fatigue.
The 51-year-old found himself in second place behind Cowham in the latter stages of the race during a safety car intervention, giving him five laps to make a move for his maiden win.
With backmarkers few and far between, it wasn’t until the final lap when Sherrin made a late braking move around the outside of the Mustang ahead, swooping into the race lead with only a matter of corners to go.
Sherrin was ecstatic with the win after so many years of coming so close alongside his usual co-driver, Grant Sherrin.
“It was awesome to finally get the win. We have been chasing that one for quite a few years and I’ve been on the podium a lot of times, to get it this time was great,” Sherrin said.
“It was good being on my own, this year is the first that Grant and I have separated for many years, but I’m enjoying the challenge.
“Although the race was shortened, it was still quite challenging doing it all on my own, fatigue comes into play but it’s better not having to get in and out of the car.
“After the safety car, there were four or five laps to make a move on the Mustang ahead of me for the lead, there was traffic around, so I had to be patient, but then on the final lap I decided to go for it.
“It was my only opportunity at turn three, I went to the outside and just braked later to then beat them to the line.
“The race win wasn’t even on my mind at that stage, it wasn’t until I actually got across the line when it all hit me that I had finally won the Fight in the Night, there were a few cheers across the radio with the team manager and all was great.”
The win not only filled an empty void in Sherrin’s APC career but was also a contributing factor in keeping his series lead intact after a somewhat frustrating weekend.
“It was an up and down weekend overall, the DNF in race one was disappointing after running up the front at the time, that’s a race that got away but the Saturday night win made up for it,” Sherrin explained.
“Grant and I came together in that final race while running one and two, most of the time we are pretty good at knowing what we are going to do, but sometimes you get it wrong, it’s just one of those things.
“I was still able to work my way up to second, I caught up to Coleby (Cowham) but ran out of tyres at the end and wasn’t able to make a move.
“I still walked away a couple of points clear in the title race so I’m very happy about that.
“It’s been a few years since I’ve been in this kind of contention so it’s good, it’s nice to be there and with three more races to go and a mix of sprint and enduros it’s going to be a fun challenge.”
The Mobil 1 Australian Production Car Series will again feature alongside the Monochrome GT4 Australia Series at Sandown International Raceway on 8-10 September.
