GARRY’S SYDNEY SHANNONS NATIONALS WRAP – SUNDAY

Bob Pearson put on a masterly performance in Australian Production Car Series – Photo: Nathan Wong

IT WAS a continuation of the masterly performance from Pro-Duct’s Bob Pearson to back up his two one-hour wins on Saturday with another two on Sunday, taking maximum round three points in the Australian Production Car Series third round at Sydney Motorsport Park.

In the second half of the feature events of the Shannons Nationals fourth outing of the year, Pearson not only managed his tyre wear on the Mitsubishi EVO X RS, but had less degrading than he did the day before and won the races by 50 and 22 seconds respectively.

The 72-year-old veteran won the first race ahead of Rod Salman and Nathan Antunes (Mercedes AMG A45) with Lachlan Gibbons (Subaru Impreza WRX STi) third. Brothers Grant and Iain Sherrin (BMW M4) were in leading contention but had to pit for a tyre puncture and finished fourth.

In the later race the Sherrins managed to get through without a tyre drama and finished second ahead of Salmon/Antunes while Leigh Burges (EVO 9) was fourth. Tyler Everingham (Renault Megane RS265) finished fifth for a second time and scored his second Class C win for the day.

Jordan Love won both the sprint races in Sydney – Photo: Nathan Wong

IN ROUND four of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia presented by Pirelli series, Jordan Love won both the sprint races and the Professional Class while Anthony Gilbertson’s clean sweep has him in Elite Class title contention.

Brenton Grove made a brilliant start in race two, outpointing pole sitter Love and holding sway for several laps. Grove survived several laps of continuous pressure before Love finally snuck by.

Gilbertson had a poor start, surrendering third spot to Shahin. Over the ensuing laps Gilbertson reduced the margin and overtook Shahin who tried to get the spot back on the final lap, only to spin at turn 2.

That allowed John Morriss through, along with Brett Boulton and John Steffensen who were line astern at the finish, although the latter had a 5s penalty addition to his race time.

In the final race, it was Gilbertson who made a brilliant start, edging slightly ahead of Love in the run to turn 2 before settling into second ahead of Grove.

The latter took second when Gilbertson ran wide at the top of the circuit and held onto third ahead John Morris, Brett Boulton, Marcel Zalloua and Sam Shahin.

Mark Laucke dominated Australian Prototype Series in Sydney – Photo: Nathan Wong

MARK LAUCKE continued his winning ways in races two and three of the Australian Prototype Series.

In race two he drove his West WX10 to a 0.6s victory over Michael Shaw (Radical SR3RS) with Gerrit Ruff (West WR1000) in third place, and then withstood the challenge of Mark Short (Prince) in the last race.

Short and his Prince posted their best result so far in race two, finishing fourth ahead of Peter Paddon (Radical SR3), Terry Peovitis (F1K) and John-Paul Drake, and then launched a bid for the lead on the final lap of race three only to spin at the turn 8 hairpin. As a result Shaw finished second and Paddon third.

Peter Paddon was the form driver in Radical Australia Cup – Photo: Nathan Wong

WITH ANOTHER 50-minute win in the second race for round four of the Radical Australia Cup, Peter Paddon, has consolidated his standing at the top of the points with one round to go

Kim Burke was on pole with Michael Shaw alongside. The pair raced side-by-side from the start through to turn 3 where both speared off. That enabled Oliver Smith, Paddon’s nearest rival in the series, into the lead until he made his compulsory pitstop.

Paddon took over the front running and when he stopped, Sue Hughes led until she stopped. Smith lasted a couple of more laps before parking his SR3SX and would be joined later on the sidelines by Shaw, second behind Paddon at the time. Paddon’s win was by a healthy margin with Chris Medland second and Hughes third.

The Veloce Alfa Series had their third round at the Shannons Nationals – Photo: Nathan Wong

TWO RACES today produced two different winners in Michael Musumeci (Alfa GT 3.2 V6) and David Capraro (Alfa Giuietta QV 1.7) at the third round of the Veloce Alfa Series.

Race one winner Enzo Piazza (Alfetta GTV6 2.5 V6) was slow off pole position in race two and eventually retired with a broken gear selector. Doug Selwood (GTV6 3.0) led but was hunted down and passed by Musumeci before race’s end.

In race three Selwood led early but fell to fifth as Capraro took the win ahead of Danny Gatto (GTV6 3.0) and a great comeback drive from Piazza to grab third ahead of Frank Carigliano (GTV6 2.5 V6) in fourth.

We’ll have a full wrap of the Shannons National action from Sydney Motorsport Park in the next issue of Auto Action, on sale Thursday. In the meantime, follow us on social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all the latest updates across the weekend.