In one of the most thrilling CAMS Club Challenge Australia contests for the year, SUCC Motorsport has broken the Gippsland Club Club’s (GCC) stronghold over the Victorian competition.
In recent years, the GCC has been the team to beat in the challenge with a number of their teams often finishing on the podium, including the multiple times on the top step.
Partly due to having a home ground advantage, with the club based at the popular Bryant Park, the GCC has also enjoyed lots of recent success due to the quantity and quality of their drivers.
Throughout the 2019 competition, it looked like the GCC were going to enjoy top honours once again, with their teams sitting in the top three at the halfway stage.
However, a late surge from the SUCC in the final two runs, led by Daniel Leitner in the Subaru WRX, saw them leapfrog all three Gippsland based teams and grab top spot.
The team managed to hold on to their lead for the remainder of the event and secured what was an unforgettable victory after entering every event since the CAMS Club Challenge began.
The host club took out the next spot in the standings with GCC Team Two ending up as runner-ups over the Gippsland Gemini Club's Motorsport 1, who just edged out GCC Team One for the final spot on the podium.
One of four car clubs to make their maiden appearances in the Club Challenge was the Nissan Datsun Sport Owners Car Club and the four-driver crew had a debut to remember, beating out the Victorian 86/BRZ’s A Team to fifth place.
The Fiat Car club of Victoria was also entering the Victorian Club Challenge for the first time – with their first team finishing a solid seventh place, while other first-timers in the Renault Car Club of Victoria and the Pakenham Auto Club saw their teams finish 10th, 11th and 12th respectively.
Winning the individual performance for the day was the Gippsland Gemini Owners Club Club’s Salvatore Fichera posting the fastest time of the day with a 1:16.36 lap time, almost six seconds faster than the next best drivers.
It was a tie for second place with Peter Bartold from The Fiat Car Club of Victoria’s and Hayden Wilde from the Victorian 86/BRZ’s D Team sharing the spoils – Remarkably neither driver could inspire their teams with Bartold and the Scuderia X1/9 team finishing eighth and Wilde’s four-entry team finishing last.