Sydney Supports: Gray claims closest ever Toyota 86 finish as Morris loses dream win
There was high drama in the final set of Sydney support races with a record photo finish in the Toyotas and Nash Morris throwing away a dream debut win.
Porsche Sprint Challenge
Not only did Aron Shields deny Nash Morris a clean sweep on debut, but also a round win after taking out the 22-lap finale in Sydney.
In his first drive in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Morris had won the first two races, but the finale did not go to plan as he threw away his good work by spinning at the final corner.
His 12th place finish handed race three winner the round honours, while Marco Giltrap joined them in third.
Morris and Shields were side by side on the front row and the latter got a flyer on the outside, whilst the pole sitter spun the wheels and dropped to third.
Aaron Shields denied Nash Morris a Porsche Sprint Challenge clean sweep.
Behind them there was chaos at turn one as Andre Goldie collected Matt Slavin which sent the latter spinning into the grass.
This brought out the first Safety Car of the weekend and Morris and Oscar Targett both jumped Giltrap after the restart.
Morris then turned his attention to hounding Shields for the lead, but he threw away his chances of a perfect debut by rotating at the final right hander.
This saw him drop from second to 15th and he eventually can home 12th as Shields secured the win required to snatch round honours.
He finished 2s ahead of Targett with Hamish Fitzsimmons scoring a solid third ahead of Ronan Murphy and Giltrap.
Adrian Flack dominated Pro Am and Stephen Moylan claimed Class B on a count-back after tying with Brayden Taylor.
SuperUtes
Aaron Borg (centre) celebrates his SuperUtes round win with runner up David Seiders and third place Ryal Harris. Image: V8SuperUtes
Aaron Borg has snatched the honours of a closely fought SuperUtes round at Sydney Motorsport Park with a final race win.
After David Seiders claimed a second win of the weekend on Sunday morning a tight fight for round honours was anticipated.
Seiders started strongly, taking the lead off the line which left Borg and Ryal Harris to fight for second.
Borg won that battle on the inside of turn two and quickly set his sights on the lead.
The defending champion got the job done with a clean move on the inside of Corporate Hill which left Seiders vulnerable to Harris at the following hairpin.
“Sideways” Seiders managed to initially fend off “The Kid” but the resistance did not last long as he lost it at the final corner on the following lap.
Their battle allowed Borg to waltz away and he eventually secured a 1s win.
John Steffenson had a scary slide at the opening corner but survived, while Gray dropped from fifth to eighth after a moment at the same turn.
The only retirement was Gerard Maggs who had smoke trailing from his Ford Ranger for most of the race.
With another round win under his belt, Borg has got his championship defence off to a strong start and he looks to continue building momentum at The Bend on August 18-20.
Toyota 86 Series
Cody Burcher leads the Toyota 86s through through the opening sequence of corners at Sydney. Image: Peter Norton Epic Sports Photography
The Toyota 86 Series wrapped up the supports in style with Rylan Gray beating Ryan Casha by just 0.08s at Sydney.
Gray controlled the entire race, but found himself defending the lead for his life after a fire enforced Safety Car set up a two-lap showdown.
Despite Casha almost pushing the #21 down the main straight and charging up side by side at the chequered flag, he just fell short.
The thrilling finish snatched the record away from current Supercars star Will Brown who snuck ahead of David Sieders also at Sydney Motorsport Park in 2016.
The race was a short, but enthralling one with Cody Burcher beating Gray off the line as Casha settled into third, while Campbell Logan, Jordan Shalala and Reuben Goodall went three wide for fourth.
Gray made the defining move for the lead on the second tour of turn six which left Burcher under threat to Casha, who quickly snatched second.
The Safety Car arrived as chaos unfolded at turn two where Ryan Hadden was spun, but the bigger concern was the major grass fire caused by Rossi Johnson.
After the long delay a two-lap showdown arrived and Gray managed to hold on by the skin of his teeth despite Casha almost pushing him across the line.
Just hours after taking victory Gray will head to Germany to race at the Nurbergring.
The next time the Toyota 86 Series will be on track is at The Bend on August 18-20.
Main image by Peter Norton Epic Sports Photography
Sunday
Race 19: 15:30 – 16:45 (36 Laps) –
Download the full Supercars Sydney Round 7 Event Guide with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus extensive driver profiles HERE
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Andrew, Bruce and PG got up early for a chat about the Sydney Supernight race and Bruce was far from happy about it. There was a great win by Erebus driver Brodie Kostecki, who now leads the title again and controversy around the podium with penalties taking trophies away from Cam Waters and Shane van Gisbergen… neither was happy. Did anyone say Green Card?
What happened to pole winner Andre Heimgartner? Who had steering issues, and why were so many people swearing? Who got fined and punished, and who didn’t?
It was a big night before a big day.
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