Winton Wrap: Clemente breaks through

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 10 June 2023

Michael Clemente converted a breakthrough pole position into victory in the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia opening race at Winton.

In just the second round driving the Cupra Leon Competition TCR, Clemente steered the new Spanish car to a special triumph.

The Carl Cox Motorsport driver set up the win by taking pole with a 1:24.8410 in a thrilling qualifying session.

He edged out Hyundai’s Bailey Sweeny by just five hundredths of a second.

Despite the close margins over one lap, Clemente was untouchable once racing began.

He got a great jump off the line and led all 18 laps to take a 1s over Sweeny, while Audi driver Zac Soutar joined them on the podium.

Turn 1 caused some chaos with Ben Bargwanna, Kody Garland and Aaron Cameron getting tangled up with the latter the most affected finishing last and a lap down.

TCR wraps up with two more races including the finale at 16.10.

Trans Am

Lochie Dalton got it done from pole in the AWS Mustang at Winton for Race 1 of the National Trans Am series.

The Racing Academy’s Cody Gillis was +1.260s back in P2 with an impressive drive, with Ben Grice rounding out the podium as the front three qualifiers held position throughout.

A left-rear puncture to Owen Kelly allowed TA2 youngster Jackson Rice to snatch fourth on home turf.

Dalton is the eighth different series winner in 2023, and may leave Winton with the championship lead.

Two more Trans Am races are on the cards on Sunday.

S5000

The S5000 Winton opener went down to the wire and Joey Mawson once again prevailed.

Mawson survived the chaos and a late-race restart to claim his fifth win from seven races.

James Golding started from pole position, but a first corner lock up saw him drop to third.

However, by Lap 7 he was back up to second and was closing in on Mawson when a late race Safety Car arrived six laps later for Mark Rosser, who found the barrier at Turn 4.

This set up a one-lap shootout where Golding fired off at Turn 1 which saw him plummet down the order to seventh.

This promoted Cooper Webster and Blake Purdie to the podium behind Mawson.

The second race of the weekend will be the first televised on Sunday at 9.50 while another follows at 13.55.

Touring Car Masters

Steven Johnson continued his Touring Car Masters dominance in Winton with a sixth win from seven races.

As Johnson controlled the field from pole position, Ryan Hansford looked stuck for second place only for technical gremlins to force him to pull over on the last lap.

Hansford’s heartbreak vaulted Adam Garwood to second with Danny Buzadzic in third.

The weekend’s racing got off to a lively start after Andrew Fisher took a convincing 3s Trophy Race win over Garwood.

The first of two Sunday Touring Car Masters races will take place at 10.25.

Precision National Sports Sedans

Tony Ricciardello has returned to the Precision National Sports Sedans in style by winning the opening race in Winton.

Riccardello crossed the line in his Alfa Romeo GTV under the control of the Safety Car due to Nick Smith’s Mazda RX7 catching alight.

Despite setting the fastest race lap in Sports Sedans history at Winton, reigning champion Jordan Caruso had to settle for second ahead of Josh Haynes.

Brad Shiels was a hard charger climbing up to seventh from 24th.

Sports Sedans kick off Sunday’s Winton action at 8.45am for the penultimate race of their weekend.

Australian Formula Ford

Matthew Hillyer has taken an important pair of wins in the Australian Formula Ford series at Winton.

Hillyer started on pole and led every lap of the early Saturday morning race ahead of Jake Santalucia in a Sonic 1-2.

Championship leader Zak Lobko had to settle for fifth after starting down in sixth.

Hillyer went back to back in a more dramatic second race by 3s over Kodi Williams.

Sanalucia looked set to take second again but slumped to 12th in the closing stages.

Lobko made some important ground to snatch fourth from Eddy Beswick.

The third and final race of the Formula Ford Winton round is at 9.20 Sunday morning.

V8 Touring Cars

Winton belonged to Jude Bargwanna when the V8 Touring Cars were on track on Saturday.

Just six cars lined up on the grid for the second round of the season with Bargwanna head and shoulders above the rest in his FG Falcon.

He dominated and won by 15s after breaking the lap record for pole position with a 1:23.0913 breaking Tax Douglas’ record which was set seven years ago.

Tony Evangelou dropped from podium contention from a slow start which allowed Jamie Tilley and Jim Pollicina to finish second and third respectively.

Two more V8 Touring Car races await on Sunday.

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