The first day of the Shannons Trophy Series’ visit to Queensland Raceway has seen plenty of fast-paced action as five impressive categories enjoyed a strong start to the weekend.
 
From practice sessions to racing, the opening day of the meeting had it all.
 
There will be free entry for fans all weekend, while those who can’t make it will be able to watch all of Sunday’s action live and free on 7plus from 9am – 5pm AEST.
 
The live stream will also be simulcast on Motorsport Australia’s YouTube channel, Blend Line TV and the Shannons Trophy Series Facebook page, allowing those around the world to tune in to the coverage.

Hyundai Excels 

The Hyundai Excels were the only category to have a race on Friday and it was Jack Wood who took out honours for the day, overcoming a mixed qualifying session to beat Jaylyn Robotham and Tyler Collins by less than a second, while George Wood finished in fourth place a further second off.
 
The front four were quite far off the chasing pack, with almost seven seconds the difference between George and the fifth placed Zane Rinaldi.
 
Unfortunately for George, his fourth place came after a tough opening lap when the pole sitter lost his spot to the other Wood and fell behind Robotham and Collins – to which he was unable to regain any more spots.
 
The series has two races tomorrow, with the first kicking off in the morning at 9am and the second at 1:55pm.

Australian Formula Open Series

The Australian Formula Open Series was the first category on track today, with three practice sessions across the day.
 
There was very little separating the top contenders with each session seeing a different driver on top of the time sheets, Trent Grubel quickest in the first, Ryan How the second, and Ryan Astley going fastest in the third and final session.
 
While there were three different pace-setters for each session, it was How’s second last effort in the second session that was the fastest of the day – the young Victorian the only driver to go under one minute and six seconds. 
 
In the Formula 4s, Brodie Norris went the quickest in all three sessions, with his best time coming in the first session.
 
There are just two sessions for the category tomorrow with qualifying to run at 10:35am and the first race to occur at 2:30pm.
 

Workhorse Radical Cup Australia 

There were two practice sessions in the Workhorse Radical Cup Australia and there were two different entries who went fastest.
 
In the opening session, the combined entry of Jordan Oon and Adam Lisle sealed top spot over Peter Paddon with just two tenths the difference between the two cars.
 
It was an even closer gap in the battle for third as rookie Alex Gardner edged out the combined entry of Peter Clare and Josh Hunt by just over two thousandths of a second. 
 
Gardner was far more convincing in the category’s second practice session as the Queenslander went fastest overall, however it was still close as he was just two tenths faster than Cooper Cutts, while Clare and Hunt were third. 
 
The series will have qualifying in the morning before its first 50-minute race of the event wraps up tomorrow’s action.

Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia Scholarship Series

Alice Buckley was the star of the show Friday afternoon as she topped the time sheets in one of the series’ two practice sessions.
 
However, in posting the fastest time of the second session, she also posted the fastest time of the day, going three tenths faster than Lachlan Bloxsom in the session.
 
The pair recorded the two best times for the whole day as the fastest driver in session one posted the third best time for the day – Queenslander Glen Ebert also going three tenths faster in the opening session.
 
The TGRA Scholarship Series will have its Qualifying sessions at 11:05am before holding the first race of the weekend at 3pm.

National Sports Sedan Series

Holding its second round of the year, all the stars were out to play in the category as it was some familiar names sharing top honours throughout the day.
 
The two sessions couldn’t have been more different as reigning champion Jordan Caruso dominated the morning’s practice session, going more than two seconds faster than the next best driver in Ashley Jarvis.
 
However only two laps were run after the session was red flagged with series legend Tony Ricciardello posting the 15th fastest time.
 
Ricciardello bounced back perfectly in the second practice session, snatching top spot from Caruso on his fourth lap and remaining unbeaten all day.
 
It was quite close between the two as Caruso finished half a second off, while Jarvis was the third fastest almost three seconds off. 
 
The series will now have Qualifying at 11:05am before its first race at 3:30pm.