Dean Tighe has comfortably claimed top honours in the Motorsport Australia Supersprint Championship over the weekend in what was an entertaining battle for the championship.
Taking place on Sydney Motorsport Park’s (SMSP) Gardner GP Circuit, Tighe steered his Dallara to the fastest lap of the day with a one-minute twenty-two, which also set a new lap record in the process.
The Queenslander, who is well known for his success in Australian hill climb, finished the event with his best time more than a second faster of reigning champion Douglas Barry, who was impressive himself in the Lola T8750.
Having missed out on beating Barry back in 2019, Tighe was extremely satisfied to come away with the national title.
“Last time we held it in 2019, I was second to Doug, so I was coming back for a vengeance, it was good to get a win,” Tighe said.
“I have competed several times at the track, but it was the first time I had in this car there, I had a spin during one of the runs but it was a good way to find the limit to then put up my fastest time on the following lap.”
“It was well organised and ran quite smoothly, it was a friendly atmosphere plus the weather was good.”
Whilst the two were in a class of their own, Daniel Nolan claimed the final podium position, despite being almost ten seconds slower than Tighe.
Supersprint regular Richard Perini had a strong showing finishing with the fifth fastest time of the day but was unable to top the fourth-place finisher Damon Ashton - the sole driver in the TA4 class.
New South Wales’ Jaime Cheng took out the 2R1 class in the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, while claiming seventh overall, having finished six tenths behind Toyota GR Supra driver Jonathon Wong.
Rounding out the top 10 was Adam Savic, Nik Spartan Kalis and Peter Nowlan.
Other notable class winners saw John Nguyen fastest in 3R4 class, while Jose Fernandez was quickest in the 3S4 sports sedans class by only four tenths of a second ahead of Malcolm Michel – a solid victory considering the class fielded more drivers than any of the others.
Both drivers also accomplished top 15 finishes in the overall standings.
View the full results here
Just one Motorsport Australia National Speed and Auto Test remains for 2022, the Motorsport Australia Hill Climb Championship, with Tighe likely to be in contention for the title.
Ahead of the event at Mount Cotton, Tighe was hoping to use the momentum to add another trophy to the mantle.
“Spending some time in the car always helps prepare, it’s a different car of course but some time at speed never hurts,” Tighe added.
“Hopefully we can achieve the same result.”
The Motorsport Australia Hill Climb Championship takes place at Mt Cotton on 20-23 October.