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GARRY’S FRIDAY SPEEDSERIES WRAP

GARRY'S FRIDAY SPEEDSERIES WRAP

By Garry O'Brien

Date posted: May 28, 2022

The Speed Series hit Sydney Motorsport Park for the third round of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships with several qualifying sessions under lights. Overall there were 19 sessions over 11 and a half hours.

TCR AUSTRALIA

Current series leader Tony D’Alberto (Honda Civic Type R) and former champion Will Brown (Audi RS3 LMS) shared practice honours in the lead-up to qualifying for round four.

D’Alterto’s late 1min 34.797s lap in the first session put him 0.238s clear of inaugural series winner and early pace setter Brown. Third for the session was Zac Soutar (Honda) from James Moffat (Renault Megane RS), Nathan Morcom (Hyundai i30 N) and Dylan O’Keeffe (Peugeot 308).

Jordan Cox (Peugeot) was seventh with Josh Buchan (Hyundai) next, and then Michael Caruso (Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce), Luke King (Hyundai). Then followed Fabian Coulthard (Honda), Ben Bargwanna (Peugeot), Brad Shiels (Hyundai), Aaron Cameron (Peugeot) and Jay Hanson back in the later spec Audi he crashed at Bathurst.

Brown saved his best for the second last lap of the night session where he posted a 1min 34.4707s lap to be fastest overall. Second under lights was Morcom with Buchan third from D’Alberto, Coulthard, Soutar, Cameron, Bargwanna, Moffat and Hanson. Eleventh was Caruso ahead of O’Keeffe, Cox, Baily Sweeney (Hyundai) and Kody Garland (Renault).

 

PORSCHE SPRINT CHALLENGE AUSTRALIA

 

Ryan Wood suffered a left rear upright failure at Turn 11 in the second practice session before the Earl Bramber Motorsport driver topped qualifying with a time of 1mi 30.0881 seconds to edge out Colin Hill Engineering’s Tom Sargent by 0.26s. Behind the two Pro drivers, Sam Shahin was third fastest and the best of the AMs.

Next best overall was Aron Shields ahead of Ollie Shannon, Lachlan Bloxsom and Courtney Prince. Best of Class B and eighth outright was Tom Taplin, ahead of Madeline Stewart and Jason Miller. In practice one there was an incident where Nathan Stricklen spun and was hit by Graham Williams with Stricken’s car ruled out due too much damage.

 

TOURING CAR MASTERS

 

John Bowe cemented his 53rd TCM pole with the fastest time for round two. He finished the session 0.05s ahead of fellow Holden Torana A9X driver Ryan Hansford with the third best effort going to Jamie Tilley (Ford Mustang). Behind the 5.0 litre threesome it was George Miedecke (Chev Camaro) in the best of the 6.0 litre cars after he topped the earlier practice session.

Fifth fastest was Jim Pollicina (A9X) with the top five covered by 0.4s while sixth spot went to Gerard McLeod (Holden Commodore VB). Then followed Cam Tilley (Valiant Pacer), Cam Mason (Mustang), Brad Tilley (Ford Falcon XY GT), and tenth fastest Tony Karanfilovski in another Mustang.

S5000 AUSTRALIAN DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP

 

Front running outfits GRM and BRM went shared the practice honours at round four of Gold Star got underway. James Golding headed Joey Mawson by 0.29s in the first sessions before the latter turned the tables in the second, by 0.08s.

The quickest times came in the initial outing with Golding on top with a 1min 25.2651s time. Mawson held down second spot with GRM’s Nathan Herne and Aaron Cameron next ahead of Tim Macrow, Cooper Webster and Shae Davies. Blake Purdie did his time in the second session after he missed the first with a master cylinder issue.

© Copyright: Jack Martin Photography
Captured at 2022 ARG Round 4 – Sydney Motorsport Park on 20220527 by Jack Martin Photography.

TRANS AM SERIES

 

GRM teammates Nathan Herne and Owen Kelly headed up qualifying in their Mustangs for round four. Herne circulated with a best of 1 minute 32.6473 seconds to best Kelly who was quickest in the combined sessions by just over half a second. Third fastest was Brett Holdsworth (Camaro) while the remainder of the top ten comprised Mustang drivers.

Lochie Dalton was fourth quickest ahead of Cody Burcher, Tim Brook, Nash Morris, Kyle Gurton, Trans Am debutant Zach Bates, and Ben Grice. In 11th for the first race will be Jon McCorkindale (Mustang) ahead of the Mustangs driven by Edan Thornburrow and Jeff Johnson while Nic Carroll (Challenger) was 15th.

RADICAL CUP AUSTRALIA

 

There were three practice sessions where Brad Neilson set the fastest time of the day in the first aboard his Radical SR3 RSX. Second fastest was West Aussie Elliott Schutte who produced his time in the third session while Peter Paddon was third from his first session time.

Chris Perini was next after his time in the last outing as the sun began to sink on the western horizon and that put him ahead of Adam Lisle (session two), Peter Clare, Zig Fuhrmeister, Caleb Sumich and Bill Medland.

 

AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION CARS

 

BWMs hogged the twilight qualifying session and it was Beric Lynton (M3) who showed the way with a lap of 1 minute 40.4204s. He had almost four tenths on Drew Russell (M3) in second while Anthony Soole (M4) was third. Then followed the M4s piloted by Shane Smollen, Grant Sherrin and Simon Hodges who was the fastest overall in practice.

Ben Gersekowski in the older model M3 was seventh in front of Hadrian Morrall (Mitsubishi EVO X) which had a fuel starvation issue earlier in the day. Ninth fastest was Chris Lillis (HSV Clubsport) after it did less than a lap in practice two because of broken valve spring.

Next was Jimmy Vernon (EVO X) who did well to make the grid decider after a broken rear diff earlier. The session had one red flag when Chris Gunther (BMW 130i) speared off when the gear selector broke.

 

AUSTRALIAN PROTOTYPE SERIES

 

The Wolfs headed up the three practice sessions with Garnett Patterson fastest overall on combined times and F1 Mistral owner John-Paul Drake posting the second quickest effort. Officially though the second fastest was Jason Makris (Tornado) who edged out Ryan Godfrey (Tornado).

Next best overall was Ricky Capo (Praga R1) ahead of Neale Muston (Radical SR8), Mark Laucke (Tornado), Chris Perini (Radical SR3), Phil Hughes (SR8), Elliott Schutte (SR3), Peter Carr (SR3) and Paul Trengrove (West WR1000).

For more of the latest motorsport news pick up the current issue of Auto Action.

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