A host of Australians put on a show across the globe, with podium success and a mix of impressive results.
Extreme E
2016 Motorsport Australia Rally Champion Molly Taylor was back in action for the opening rounds of the Extreme E Championship, with round one and round two held in Saudi Arabia across the weekend.
Taylor ended both rounds on the podium in third place for each event alongside teammate Kevin Hansen, having impressed throughout the weekend.
That result leaves the pair sitting third on the Championship standings after the two rounds, with Taylor’s former team, Rosberg Racing, leading the Championship charge.
WRC
There were two Australian pairings showcasing their rally skills in the deep snow of Rally Sweden, as the WRC’s second round of 2024 got underway.
Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship regulars Peter Rullo and Ben Searcy joined the WRC calendar for a one-off attack, and had a weekend they will remember for years to come.
The pair showed plenty of pace through the tricky snow-filled stages and made progress through the field as they came to grips with the unusual conditions and posted impressive times.
Unfortunately for the Western Australia locals, a fuel pump issue would cruel their chances of finishing the event – the car and team coming to a halt on the penultimate stage and unable to start the event’s final Power Stage and be classified as finishers.
It was a similar story of misfortune for young gun Taylor Gill and co-driver Daniel Brkic.
Entered into the Junior WRC, the pair led the way after three stages and remained in the hunt for the win as they remained in the top three as the event rolled on. It all came crashing down in the rally’s seventh stage - a dual puncture ended any chance at class victory as the pair fell down the order.
While the victory was out of reach, the pair still powered on – ending the rally in a respectable seventh place in class.
Circuit racing
Young Aussie Griffin Peebles had a strong weekend in the 2024 Formula Winter Series in Spain, claiming a race win, two pole positions and two fastest laps across three races at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia.
It caps off a strong start to the series for Peebles, who sits second in the Series standings after two rounds.
Peebles was also joined by two of his countrymen, with Gianmarco Pradel and Peter Bouzinelos also on track.
Pradel narrowly missed out on a podium in the round’s second race, finishing fourth. Either side of that performance Pradel enjoyed a seventh and sixth place finish to leave him seventh in the outright driver standings.
Bouzinelos enjoyed a solid round as well with a P10, P11 and P12 across the three races.
In the Formula Regional Middle East Championship, it was a series of mixed results for the two Australians competing.
James Wharton enjoyed podium success in the second race at the Dubai Autodrome, along with a sixth and 11th place finish in the event’s other two races.
Costa Toparis, meanwhile, ended the event with a 14th, 15th and 12th place.
Also in action in Dubai were a further three Aussies in the final round of the Formula 4 UAE Championship.
AGI Sport’s Jack Beeton was the standout Australian performer, having banked a fourth place finish in the opening race. He then enjoyed two top ten finishes in the final two events of the weekend, seeing him end the series in 12th on the Championship standings.
Kamal Mrad improved as the weekend went on, finishing 25th in the opening race, before making his way through the field to finish 18th in race two and 13th in the round’s final race.
Nicolas Stati continued to enjoy valuable track time in the Championship and behind the wheel of the newest Formula 4 chassis, finishing the weekend in 23rd, 24th and 25th in the three races.