GARRY’S SANDOWN SHANNONS NATIONALS WRAP – SUNDAY

Beric Lynton continued his domination in the Australian Production Cars – Photo: Rhys Vandersyde

Australian Production Car Series

FOLLOWING ON from two out of two yesterday, Beric Lynton and his BMW M3 continued their dominance of the opening round of the Australian Production Car Series at Sandown today.

In both one-hour races at the second round of the Shannons Nationals, Lynton led from the outset and only surrendered the lead with his mandatory pit stops in each. After which, he was able to regather the front-running and win by 14.4s and 11.4s respectively.

Second in race three were the ProDuct Mitsubishi EVO Xs piloted by Bob Pearson and Rick Bates while fourth went to Tony Alford (Lotus Exige) just in front of the Anthony Soole/Aaren Russell BMW 1M.

Ryan Simpson (Lotus) was on-track to finish second until clashing with the lapped Falcon of Geoff Russell while Iain and Grant Sherrin BMW M3 had an intercooler charge pump fail on the final lap. Justin Anthony was in line for a top five in the Mercedes C63 until forced to take a pit penalty, while the HSV GTS of Chris Lillis and Nathan Callaghan ran out of fuel.

The Sherrins recovered for a second place in race four where Karl Begg brought the C63 home third ahead of Jim Pollicina and Kyle Alford in their Lotus Exiges. Leigh Burges (Mercedes A45 AMG) was sixth ahead of Soole/Russell and Jason Miller (EVO 9).

Pearson was a first lap pit visitor with a damaged wheel and guard while Bates looked set for fifth until a late puncture cost him spots. A wheel falling off on the final lap didn’t help and he limped to the line 14th behind his teammate.

Australian GT

Geoff Emery and Tony Bates shared wins in Australian GT – Photo: Rhys Vandersyde

AUDI R8s ruled the roost with wins in races two and three at the third round with Tony Bates and Geoff Emery each scoring victories.

Liam Talbot (Porsche GT3-R) made the early headway in the morning 40min race ahead of Fraser Ross (McLaren 650S) and Peter Hackett (Mercedes-Benz AMG GTS) before Glen Wood (Lamborghini RE-X) stormed through to take over the front-running.

By the end of the mandatory pitstops, Bates had the lead he would hold to the finish where Ross was second ahead of Talbot, Emery, Jaie Robson (Mercedes), Mark Griffith (Mercedes), Nick Kelly (Audi), Matt Stoupas (Audi) and Scotty Taylor (Mercedes).

Ross lit out to a substantial lead in race three, ahead of Emery, Bates, Talbot, Robson and Hackett. Again, the stops would jumble up the order and Emery emerged at the top and withstood Ross’ endeavours to get by for the second half of the race.

Talbot was third with Hackett next ahead of Griffith, Robson, Taylor and the first of the Trophy cars in Rio Nugara.

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge

Cooper Murray made an impressive comeback – Photo: Rhys Vandersyde

COOPER MURRAY made an impressive comeback after a disastrous race one, to place third and first in the races two and three to win the second round of Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia at Sandown.

The last race victory meant he tied on points with Simon Fallon, who won the opening race two before a fifth in race three. A consistent weekend for Luis Leeds saw him take third place overall after two thirds and a second.

After placing second in race one yesterday, Chelsea Angelo was challenging for the race two lead before making heavy contact with the barrier at the entry to turn nine. The incident brought about a premature end to the race.

Danny Stutterd had to work for his Pro-Am round victory didn’t come easily with Brett Boulton challenging through. Stutterd took victory in the third race after Boulton was the class star in race two. Ross McGregor was third overall in the class.

David Greig returned to the top of Class B, winning the round ahead of Phil Morriss and Christian Pancione who was caught up in an early race two melee and failed to finish.

Australian Prototype Series

Jason Makris took out the Australian Prototype Series – Photo: Rhys Vandersyde

IN THE longer second race Jason Makris withstood a sustained attack from his Wolf GB08CN teammate John-Paul Drake in the opening laps before pulling away to a 4s victory.

Dimitrios Zartaloudis (Radical SR3) finished third in the 23-lapper, rebounding from a crash in race one. Mitch Neilson finished fourth but only after a heady battle with fellow SR3 driver Simon Haggarty until the latter suffered a puncture.

Engine issues restricted Mark Laucke (West WX10) to sixth behind Tony Haggarty (SR3) while Phil Hughes recovered from a trip to the turn one sand trap to be seventh in his SR3. Sage Murdoch switched to a backup WX10, but only completed three laps before stopping at Dandenong Road.

Radical Australia Cup

The Radical Australia Cup field at Sandown – Photo: Rhys Vandersyde

JUST SEVEN cars competed in the two 50min races and each produced remarkably close results. Kim Burke (SR3RSX) won the first 0.9s over Simon Haggarty with third and fourth between John-Paul Drake (SR3RS) and Chris Perini (SR3RSX) split by 0.03s. Similarly, the gap between race two winner Haggarty and Burke was 1.4s and again, Drake and Perini were less than a second apart.

Keep your eye on the Auto Action website and social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for daily updates and the Auto Action #1736 for a full weekend roundup.