Ricciardello takes finale with epic mountain speed 

Tony Ricciardello has taken out the Precision National Sports Sedans finale and the Bathurst 1000 round win over Jordan Caruso to extend his grip on another national title.

This time around, it was a green race and the field thrilled with some big speed and fast laps, with plenty of passing as the best of the rest battled it out, with Brad Shiels battling in for a podium in his Fiat 124 Coupe over Tamasi.

Tamasi came from the back of the field to take fourth, but the story of the day was the sheer straight line speed of the iconic Alfa Romeo GTV, that after losing its lead early, left the super quick Audi A4 like it was standing still.

Caruso battled for the win, but he just couldn’t reel it in, as Ricciardello now stands on the cusp of yet another National title after three years out of the category.

Jarvis’s effort’s over the weekend also saw him finish the round in third outright after a sixth place in the finale, as he fights to maintain second in the championship from Caruso.

Ricciardello’s round win with two victories has him on the cusp of another national title ahead of the Gold Coast 500 finale.

The National Sports Sedans finale got underway with a tantalising front row, with Ricciardello and Caruso facing off down pit straight, with the fans invested in a potentially green race to finish the weekend.

After an extra formation lap, a rolling start saw Caruso take the first corner, but Ricciardello absolutely blew past him down Mountain Straight.

Fogg held off Jarvis, with Shiels jumping Humfrey to sort the top six, whilst Tamasi exploded into 12 from the rear on the first lap alone.

Jarvis was harangued by Shiels early, whilst the gap between Fogg and Caruso was already out to five seconds.

Shiels finally took Jarvis in The Chase in the Fiat after getting a tow, and starting working on closing the two second gap to the Mustang.

At the front of the field, Caruso was hanging on to the Alfa Romeo courtesy of his speed across the top, but the championship leader’s speed on the straight was proving a big handful with five minutes left on the time certain race.

Tamasi in the meantime had moved up to seventh and was working on a two second gap to Humfrey and when he closed it there was slight contact and he got past, then blew past Jarvis for P5. 

Meanwhile, it was an impressive drive from Newman, who after yesterday’s mishap had worked up to P12, whilst Shiels had earlier passed Fogg to hold a comfortable lead in the P3 battle.

With three minutes left, Caruso had started putting in some big laps, and was two seconds faster than the leader with a 2:03.647 to draw closer.

Ricciardello was frustrating Caruso however, and prior to the final tour the two cars were hitting 290km/ph as the champion elect went into the last lap holding a one second gap.

Shiels was comfortably away from Fogg on the final lap, with Tamasi moving past the Mustang also, as Ricciardello stormed home for the win by 1.1969, with Shiels earning a deserved third in the Fiat, +20.656 behind the Alfa and Audi.

Tamasi’s efforts from the back saw him finish in P4, just over five seconds back for Shiels, whilst Fogg, Jarvis, Humfrey, Lacey, Duggan, and Newman rounded out the top-ten

The Precision National Sports Sedans are next on track at the Gold Coast 500 on October 27-29.

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