GARRY’S SATURDAY SHANNONS NATIONALS WRAP: THE BEND

Shane van Gisbergen and Liam Talbot took out the Australian GT enduro – Photo: InSyde Media

AUSTRALIAN GT

ROUND TWO of the Australian Endurance Championship and the GT Championship fourth round was won by Shane Van Gisbergen and Liam Talbot. The pair shared Trofeo Motorsport’s Lamborghini Huracan and took out the race clear of Garth Tander and Geoff Emery in an Audi R8 LMS.

The three-hour enduro at The Bend finished in the dark and had its share of dramas. Jamie Whincup and Yasser Shahin (Mercedes-AMG) had a fuel issue when leading shortly after a safety car, and the McLaren 720S of Fraser Ross and Ryan Simpson lost time with a left front brake issue.

The safety car was deployed when the Glenn Wood/Justin McMillian KTM X-Bow stopped on track, right at the time its class rival KTM of David Crampton/Troy Harrison was garaged for a short period. Prior to that the Mercedes of Scott Taylor and Craig Baird was an early casualty, parked out of harm’s way after wall contact.

The gap between second and third was 50s with 94 laps completed. The battle for third went all the way to the wire between the Mercedes’ of Peter Hackett/Dom Storey and Max Twigg/Tony D’Alberto with half-second separating them, although the latter would incur a 5s penalty.

Whincup/Shahin were next ahead of Simpson/Ross and the Lamborghini Gallardo of Richard Gartner and Hadrian Morrall which stopped late to make a quick body repair. Both the KTMs re-joined were able to be just classified as finishers.

DEA PERFORMANCE SPORTS SEDANS

Steven Tamasi won the Sport Sedans race – Photo: InSyde Media

CURRENT TITLE holder Steven Tamasi won the opening race of round two ahead of Simon Copping and Shane Woodman.

Slick tyres and a sudden downpour as the race started, turn The Bend into an ice rink. Pole sitter Thomas Randle (SAAB/Chev) was a non-starter due to an oil pump driveshaft failure while series leader Tony Ricciardello (Alfa/Chev) speared off at the turn one, re-joined and was given a drive-through penalty.

Woodman (BMW/Chev) assumed the lead and for several laps, was engaged in a tight tussle with Myles Bond (Ford Escort/Nissan Turbo), Tamasi (Calibra/Chev), Jordan Caruso (Audi/Chev) and later Copping in his ex-Supercar VZ Commodore.

Tamasi ultimately went through to win ahead of Copping with Woodman third from Caruso and Bond. Ricciardello fought back to sixth ahead of Shane Bradford (Chev Camaro), Colin Smith (Holden Monaro/Chev), Anthony Cox (SAAB/Dodge) and Michael Robinson (Monaro/Chev).

PAYCE AUSTRALIAN FORMULA 4

Luis Leeds is guaranteed to claim the Formula 4 title – Photo: InSyde Media

FINISHING SECOND at round five of the double-header guaranteed AGI Sport’s Luis Leeds the 2019 title today while the round was taken out by Lachie Hughes from Team BRM.

In race two Hughes held off his teammate Ryan Suhle for the duration. Antonio Astuti (AGI) was the first to try and wrestle away third off Jackson Walls before Leeds took over as the challenger. For several laps the pair’s attempts fell short before both were able to get by and finish third and fourth close together. Behind Walls it was Tom Smith with Emerson Harvey a distant seventh.

A great start from Walls in race three put him in the lead for half the event, leading from Hughes who took over for the run to the flag. Despite his best efforts, Leeds couldn’t find a way through to second, settling for third as Smith who held off Astuti for fourth.

Suhle was in the leading mix until contact with Hughes midway through dropped him down the order. A post-race penalty for the latter gave Wall the victory.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION

Andrew Sarandis set the pace in Improved Production – Photo: InSyde Media

A MERE three tenths of a second separated the top three in qualifying for tomorrow’s three races. Andrew Sarandis (Mitsubishi EVO 8) will start the first on pole, having eclipsed the earlier times posted by Scott Cook (Nissan Silvia S13) and Maximilian de Meyric (Mazda RX3).

Next best was Queenslander David Waldon in his RX3, ahead of Carl Ward (Datsun Sunny), Jason Palmer (RX7), Adam Trimmer (Toyota 86), Keith Wong (Honda DC5), Stephen Wan (Honda Civic) and Domenic Coppola (Silvia S14).

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