The winners of super SpeedSeries Saturday

It was a busy and entertaining day of SpeedSeries racing at Queensland Raceway with Supercars stars and newer faces performing.

The GT World Challenge Australia opener was a wild affair that went down to the death under the setting sun.

Paul Stockell was fully committed off the rolling start and swooped around the outside to hit the lead.

Further back there was mayhem as Marc Cini and Koundouris spun with two other Mercedes forced to take tours of the dirt.

Stockell built a 5s lead but that was wiped out when the Safety Car arrived for Ash Samara’s spin.

Another Safety Car immediately followed when Darren Currie rotated at the final corner.

This is when teams completed their pit stop cycles and at the restart there was more drama.

Now deeper in the pack Stockell’s co-driver Renee Gracie tangled with Declan Fraser, which left nowhere to go for Brenton Grove.

To add further drama, Supercars stars Chaz Mostert and Will Brown both toured the gravel and had to pit as a result.

After it all the #7 Audi of Leitch in the lead but he was then hit by two penalties that equated to 10s.

He did his best to pull a big enough gap and took the chequered flag first, but could not do hold onto the win.

That went to young gun Alex PeronI and Mark Rosser, who were just four tenths clear of Jayden Ojeda as Leitch fell to third.

Another one-hour race is in store at 11.55 AEST.

After being second best in the opener, Todd Hazelwood hit back to score an important Trans Am success in the championship battle.

Having been unable to pass Nathan Herne in Race 1, Hazelwood took his earliest opportunity to hit the lead by snatching it off the start line.

With the roles reversed Herne tried to reel in the TFH racer but ended up 1.2s back with Jordan Boys completing the podium again.

James Golding and James Moffat put in important drives to be in the top five and limit the damage.

All eyes were on Elliott Cleary as he soared from last to sixth, while Jackson Rice, Tom Davies and Domain Ramsay all had a DNF.

Tony D’Alberto collected a very satisfying victory in TCR after losing one at Symmons Plains.

This time D’Alberto and Wall Racing will keep their trophy after a commanding lights to flag performance.

Tom Oliphant took pole but did not enjoy the privlide due to a penalty for an engine change which put the Wall Racing Honda in charge and made full use of it.

Championship leader Zac Soutar did not get a perfect getaway and sacrificed second to Aaron Cameron and this was the order to the finish, while Dylan O’Keeffe was the only retirement.

The GT4 race saw a stunning battle between McLaren and Ford Thant ultimately ended in tears.

After a lightening opening lap the #35 Ford Mustang appeared in control, with George Miedecke leading the way with two laps to go.

But Tom McLennan was right behind him and launched a move on the penultimate lap at Turn 3 where tensions boiled over.

Contact saw McLennan spin Miedecke, who had to settle for third as the former sharing an Artura with Nathan Morcom led a McLaren 1-2 followed by Marcos Flack and Tom Hayman.

The Porsche Sprint Challenge completed their weekend with two sprint races and it was all about Oscar Targett.

Targett claimed the first three peat of 2024, being untouchable despite ceding the lead in all three races.

In Race 2 Brock Gilchrist was in charge but spun, while in the finale Osborne was in front before Targett snuck past on Lap 3.

The Porsche Sprint Challenge returns in Tasmania.

In the Australian Formula Open Series, Ryan Macmillan took a dominant 4s win having set the lap record ahead of Miles Bromley and Kyle Evans.

Doing double duties on a busy weekend, Ben Stewart kicked off his TGRA Scholarship Series campaign perfectly with a 3s triumph.

Alice Buckley also impressed, winning a thrilling fight for second with Max Geoghegan.

The SpeedSeries returns to the “Paperclip” bright and early at 7.00 AEST when the second TGRA Scholarship Series race will be held.

Image: RACE PROJECT

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