The National Sports Sedans Series 2021 title fight is shaping to be an epic battle after the series’ second round over the weekend.
Taking place at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit as part of the annual Island Magic, the category had three races over the course of the weekend, including the popular 50k Plate race.
With only one round having been run this year, many of the competitors would have been feeling a little rusty due to the length of time in-between rounds and one of those drivers was 2018 champion Steve Tamasi.
Tamasi, who was leading the series after round one, had a massive off on the first lap of the first outing of the weekend and ended up retiring from the race because of it.
Fortunately, the Victorian didn’t sustain too much damage and was able to continue for the remaining two races.)
With Tamasi out after one lap in race one, Jordan Caruso dominated the rest of the field to cross the finish line 40 seconds ahead of the next best driver in Michael Robinson.
As a result of his runner-up placing, Robinson moved up to the top of the standings and replaced Tamasi, who then produced a master class performance over the next two days.
Starting towards the back of the grid, Tamasi made up 22 positions over the course of the five-lap race, reaching the chequered flag in second behind Thomas Randle.
Rounding out the podium was Robinson, while Caruso only made it to the third lap before crashing out.
In the main event, it was Randle who was the first to suffer, as tyre problems forced a premature exit after just four laps.
The removal of Randle allowed Tamasi to comfortably extend the gap at the front, while Caruso was the one battling through the field this time around – the Audi A4 driver successfully finishing as runner-up ahead of Robinson.
After winning the ever important 50k Plate, Tamasi was thrilled with his weekend and was looking forward to the battle with Robinson at The Bend Motorsport Park.
“For me, it’s really special to win events like this because it’s my home round and I have done many laps at Phillip Island. Plus, I just felt I improved so much over the weekend,” Tamasi said.
“Unfortunately, Michael is leading the championship due to that DNF, but we’re extremely fortunate that the only thing we needed to do after the race one incident was to clean the car up.
“It was an awesome weekend and we made lots of progress – even cracking our PB lap time by one and half seconds.”
Just one point separates Robinson and Tamasi ahead of the final round, while a further 45-points adrift in third is Shane Woodman.
The final round of the National Sports Sedan Series will take place at The Bend Motorsport Park as part of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships on 10-12 December.
