The Motorsport Australia NSW Motor Race Championship began its 2024 campaign at Sydney Motorsport Park on the weekend, with more than 80 competitors taking part across the day.

With seven categories spread across five fields making up the busy schedule, there was plenty of action to unfold throughout the day.

Headlining the event was the Australian Prototype Series, which saw debutant Ross Poulakis win the round in the Praga Racing ANZ-prepared Praga R1.

Despite not winning a race throughout the category’s three races, Poulakis was highly consistent in his maiden round in the car – posting three podiums from three races.

The Victorian finished behind race winner John-Paul Drake in the first two outings, before race one runner-up Jason Makris beat him in the final race, however with Drake forced to withdraw from the final race – Poulakis had established enough points to take out the win.

Rounding out the event podium was Dyson Song and Mark Laucke, with a DNF to Makris in the second outing preventing him from a place in the overall top three. 

Sharing the track with the national series was the NSW Supersports Championship, which saw Alexander Kenny claim a clean sweep of wins in the Nova Proto / NP01.

The Prototypes were the only national category at Sydney Motorsport Park on the weekend, with MARC Cars Australia having two races at the meeting. 

Taking out top honours was Darren Currie, who won both of the category’s races. Running his the MRA Roofing and Constructions MARC II, the Queenslander lost his lead in the first race to Geoffrey Taunton on the opening lap, but was back in front when Taunton’s GT SS was forced to retire 10 laps in.

From that point onwards, Currie led every lap for the rest of the day – crossing the line 20 seconds ahead of Tasmanian Jackson Shaw in race one, before securing one one-second win in race two.

Fellow Mk II driver Nick Mantikos also dominated the Production Sports Cars class in the grid – easily winning both races for the state-level series.

Another driver to produce a perfect day of wins was Daniel Frougas in the NSW Formula Ford Series.

Despite guiding his Behind the wheel of a Mygale SJ13A, the victory did not come easy for Frougas, who was pushed all weekend from a handful of other competitors.

Starting in second place next to Zak Lobko, Frougas gained the lead on the fourth lap when the dominant polesitter was forced to retire due to mechanical dramas, but the winner never looked back and led every lap from there.

Multiple lead changes in the second race proved quite the spectacle, however Frougas wrestled his way back into the lead on the sixth lap to win the race over Cody Maynes-Rutty amd Edison Beswick by less than a second, before leading the pair over the line by less than a second again in the third and final race.

Boasting the largest field of the day was Formula Vee, who welcomed more than 20 drivers for its round, which was eventually won by Darren Williams.

Beating Craig Sparke to pole position by three tenths, Williams enjoyed a lights-out to chequered flag victory in a thrilling opening outing, edging out three other drivers nu four tenths of a second.

Race runner-up Jason Cutts managed to win the second race after overcoming Williams early in the race, only for a DNF to the Jacer star to DNF on the final race – handing the win to Williams. 

Rounding out the racing categories was the NSW Superkart Championship, which had three different winners in its four races. Winning two of those was Laurie Fooks, however DNFs in the other two races undid his other work. 

Other race winners included Tony Moit and Lee Vella, while Mark Vickers was the only driver to finish all four races on the podium.

The Motorsport Australia NSW Motor Race Championship continues its 2024 season at Winton Motor Raceway on 27-28 April.