Moffat beats Boys to go back to back

Defending champion James Moffat has continued his ominous form by going back to back in the second Trans Am race at Sandown.

Despite Jordan Boys closing in towards the end and coming within three tenths of Moffat, the #37 Garry Rogers Motorsport Ford Mustang held firm to carry on a perfect start to 2024.

A pair of charging Supercars drivers were next up with Todd Hazelwood winning a tight battle for the final step on the podium.

Tim Slade also raised eyebrows by flying from 13th to an impressive fourth, while James Golding, Nash Morris and Elliott Barbour found trouble.

“It is a very nice day at the races, it could not have gone any better,” Moffat said.

“We executed perfectly as a team.”

Moffat and Golding resumed their battle side by side at the rolling start and once again the reigning champion prevailed on the inside.

But there was drama further back with frontrunner Barbour the high-profile victim.

Barbour went side by side with Boys through the turn 2 and 3 chicane but was squeezed onto the grass, forcing him to bounce through the infield and miss turn 3.

When the #75 Camaro returned to the tarmac it cut in front of Hazelwood before firing into the outside fence.

Despite the heavy hit Barbour was able to continue on.

By the time the field got to the end of Dandenong Road, Morris made a dive-bomb move on Golding and stole second as Ben Grice moved from eighth to fifth on the opening lap.

Soon Moffat and Morris were a second ahead of Golding who was soon on the defence against Boys.

Boys got a good run out of the final corner and stole third as Grice and Hazelwood also powered past at the start of lap 3 to knock Golding out of the top five.

A lap later Golding was in the pits with the GRM team working hard on the front left which was damaged after contact with Morris.

But the moment did not slow down the #67 who had closed Moffat’s lead to less than half a second by lap 5 with Boys also in the mix.

However, Moffat responded by pulling a second across the next two laps and suddenly Morris was struggling to keep grip of second.

Boys made his move vicing down the inside of Morris at turn 1 at the start of lap 8.

Three laps later Morris’ fight for victory was over as he came to a stop on the exit of turn 1. He kept going albeit at a crawl with a suspected gearing issue.

Tom Davies bowled a wide and found the gravel at Dandenong Road while Chris Pappas also had a wild moment spinning at the fast flip-flop at the end of the back straight.

Inside the final four laps the fight for the final step on the podium was at boiling point with Grice, Hazelwood and Elliott Cleary all nose to tail.

On lap 15 Hazelwood and Cleary went side by side in the run between Dandenong Road and the final chicane and the TFH Hire driver prevailed with the #19 dropping out of the top five having also lost out to Slade. 

A lap later Hazelwood pushed his way up to third by catching Grice napping at the final chicane.

After the #111 got by, Grice could only watch as another Supercars star in Slade also flew past with a better run up the pit straight.

The battle for the lead also stepped up as Boys had cut Moffat’s lead down to within half a second.

But he could only come within three tenths as Moffat went back to back.

“I had a good crack but I think he was waiting for me because he had a bit more in the end,” Boys reflected on his pursuit of victory.

Boys hopes to go one better in the Trans Am finale at 14.40 AEDT on Sunday.

Trans Am race 2 results

Don’t forget the latest issue of Auto Action available via subscription here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ – the only place you’ll get to read the full story. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.