The final day of the Shannons Nationals is done and dusted with a number of categories putting on a show for a huge crowd at Sandown International Raceway.
carsales TCR Australia Series
It was a day that had two winners – a round winner, and an inaugural Series winner in Will Brown.
A third victory for Nestor Girolami completed his clean sweep in a memorable holiday down under for the South American superstar.
While Girolami was the standout performer throughout the weekend, two runner-up finishes to Garth Tander capped off a solid weekend for the veteran, while James Moffat and Andrew Heimgartner ended today with a third place each.
While Brown may not have finished on the podium on Sunday he walked away from Sandown as the biggest winner after building a big enough points gap to secure the inaugural series title.
S5000
It was a fantastic weekend for the brand new S5000 series, with a huge crowd on hand to witness the history making moment.
Sunday’s feature race was shortened by a crash on the back straight, with extensive damage to the barriers meaning a red flag saw the race shortened.
It was a race win to James Golding and the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship driver was a deserving winner after crossing the line first in the qualifying race earlier in the day.
After being nudged at turn one yesterday and being unable to make up any ground in the second qualifying race this morning, former Formula 1 ace Rubens Barrachello showed his finesse in the feature race, securing second ahead of original pole sitter John Martin.
The S5000 Series will be back on track for its second official event as part of the Shannons Nationals at The Bend Motorsport Park in November.
Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup
Max Vidau was back on the winners’ step after taking out the final race on Sunday morning.
Despite Vidau taking top honours in today’s race, the weekend belonged to Aaron Love who finished second and claimed victory for the weekend.
After finishing in third place in the 45-minute endurance race, Harri Jones was awarded the Jim Richards Trophy over Love.
In the Pro-Am Class, Sam Shahin edged out Brett Boulton to seal the 2019 class title with a round to run.
The category returns for its final round as apart of the Shannons Nationals at The Bend Motorsport Park in November.
CAMS Australian Endurance Championship
Geoff Emery and Garth Tander have been crowned CAMS Australian Endurance Champions after finishing second in this weekend’s season finale.
Despite the duo not winning the three-legged endurance race, fellow title contenders Fraser Ross and Ryan Simpson’s premature exit gave the duo enough breathing space to cruise to the well-earned title.
It was also a special day for Peter Hackett, who came away with his first victory in the championship for the 2019 season.
With the CAMS Australian Endurance Championship wound up for the year, all attention now turns to the final two rounds of the CAMS Australian GT Championship, which continues next month on the streets of the Gold Coast.
Kuhmo Tyres Super3 Series
Another piece of silverware was won today, with Broc Feeney sealing the 2019 Super3 title in the last race of the season.
The 16-year-old only needed to finish fifth or higher in today’s race to secure the title – which he did – finishing in third place behind fellow title contender Jayden Ojeda and round winner Josh Fife.
Feeney also left Sandown as the round runner-up thanks to his three podiums, whilst race one winner Hamish Ribarits placed third outright for the weekend.
Australian Production Cars Series
Rick Bates won his third race for the weekend in the category’s only outing today, but it wasn’t enough to secure the round with his DNF yesterday putting him out of contention.
Finishing behind Bates was Iain Sherrin and Lindsay Kearns with the latter walking away with the round victory after he and co-driver Colby Cowham scored enough points throughout the weekend.
The MRF Tyres Australian Production Cars Series holds its final round during the Shannons Nationals at The Bend Motorsport Park in November.
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