The 2023 Motorsport Australia SA Autocross Series returns this weekend with the SEAC Motorsport Park hosting a mammoth opening round of season.  

An impressive 43 competitors will take on the challenging event that features a variety of layouts featuring sharp corners, water hazards, crests and other obstacles designed to test drivers of all abilities and skill levels.  

Competitors will battle it out to post the fastest times across each track, with the fastest cumulative time crowned the outright winner of the event.

The mammoth entry list is headlined by the father-son duo of Dale and Nicholas Cagney, who will be looking to take advantage of a field without the 2022 title contenders and fellow father-son duo in Michael and Bradley Clements.

Ahead of this weekend, Nicholas recently purchased a Commodore for the event to use as a once-off in order to get more seat time.

“We just got a new car with a friend, a VC Commodore and we want to get a bit of practice in rather than wrecking the good rally car,” Nicholas said.  

“We are going to see how we can compare times against some other state competitors in a more standard car, but we can have a bit more fun and take a bit more of a risk with the value in the car not near that of our rally cars, so it won’t be a total loss.”

Nicholas will also enter the round with plenty of confidence as he isn’t new to the Autocross scene, having claimed the local series when he was a junior in 2018.

“A few years back, I used to Autocross in a VT Commodore and did pretty well, I won the local series outright back in 2018 when I was still a junior, so it feels like I’m going back to the old days,” Nicholas explained.

“I have competed here before this weekend, and that’s when I won the series as a junior, so I’ve got good track knowledge.  

“It will be good to go hard straight out of the blocks and with the track knowledge, it will be an advantage knowing what the ground is like, so when the others are getting a feel for the track, I should be able to get a good jump.

“It would be nice to win the class and a top 10 outright would be good. We’re in a modified 2WD so it would be nice to win whatever class that puts us in.”

Whilst Nicholas isn’t planning on competing all throughout the year, Dale will feature on multiple occasions as he aims to take out this year’s title.  

Another driver to keep an eye out for it young-gun Oscar Farnden, who will be looking to continue his good form from the last 12-months and add another accolade to his name.

The opening round of the 2023 Motorsport Australia SA Autocross season kicks off this weekend on 14 June.