The Shannons Nationals at Sydney Motorsport Park delivered once again as we moved into the final day of round one, the carsales.com.au TCR Australia Series took center stage once again along with a host of other categories wrapping up for the weekend.
This is how it went:
Prototypes
South Australian Mark Short in the Prince LSR outpaced his fellow competitors in the final race of the weekend, cementing his round win at Shannons Nationals. There was an intense battle for second place with plenty of race position switches between the two Wolf Tornados of Mark Laucke (SA) and series newcomer Daniel Gonzalez (WA).
Gonzalez did his best to hold off Laucke, but with four minutes to go in the 25 minute race Laucke found the extra pace needed to claim second place. Laucke‘s results over the weekend also saw him take second place for the round. Gonzalez crossed the finish line in third.
Despite having a challenging Race 2, Barram’s weekend ended on a positive note as he stepped onto the podium to accept the round trophy for third.
Porsche Challenge
Harri Jones (QLD) now leads the Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia series after sweeping to his first victory of the season, winning the Jim Richards Endurance Trophy race. Jones held off a charging Aaron Love (WA) who finished the race in an impressive second place after starting in 10th.
Christian Pancione (VIC), chased down the leader, but finished just behind Jones in a tight finish between the top three.
Brett Boulton (QLD) took the TAG Heuer Pro-Am honours in the race.
Radical Cup
It was a smooth race all the way to the finish for Phil Anseline and Ollie Smith who took the chequered flag in Race 2, ten seconds in front of Peter Paddon. The duo of Brad Neilson and Mitchell Neilson crossed the finish line shortly after to claim the final place on the podium.
TCR
The start of Will Brown’s (QLD) TCR season is off to a flying start taking out first class honours in both Race 2 and Race 3. Brown and Dylan O’Keefe (VIC) had some fantastic battles during both races but O’Keefe in the Alfa Romeo couldn’t quite find the pace to get around Brown’s Hyundai.
Rounding out the podium for in the Race 2 was Tony D’Alberto (VIC) in the Honda who finished only a second behind O’Keefe in what was a tight race.
With first and second place unchanged between races, third position in the last TCR race of the weekend was claimed by Michael Almond (SA) in the Hyundai.
Alfa Challenge
The Alfa Challenge kicked off today’s program of events. It was a great start to the day for Daniel Gatto (NSW) who was the first Alfa to cross the finish line. He was shortly followed by Enzo Piazza (NSW) and David Capraro (NSW).
Piazza’s second race saw him graduate to first, with Michael Musemeci (NSW) and Michael Aarons (VIC) taking second and third respectively.
Formula 4
AGI Sport’s Luis Leeds has extended his championship lead in Sydney Motorsport Park, to be the first driver to break the 100-point barrier this year after collecting 65 across the weekend’s three races. Leeds carried on his 2016 winning form again in 2019 to claim Castrol Pole Position and Race One yesterday, a last gasp podium in Sunday’s Race Two, and a dominant victory in the final race.
With victory in Race Two, Antonio Astuti broke through to also claim his first career round podium in Formula 4 to join his AGI Sport teammate Leeds on the podium as runner-up for the round.
CAMS Rising Star Lochie Hughes recovered after scoring no points in the weekend’s second race, after he and Astuti had a coming together on the opening lap. Hughes held off teammate Ryan Suhle in the final race, to cement his place on the final step of the podium from his teammate.
