Sports Sedans heading for the ‘Paperclip’
Round 2 of the National Sports Sedans series sees a renewed push into QLD for just the second visit in five years to the Queensland Raceway on May 30 – June 1.
And whilst this round won’t have the big numbers like at the wet SMP opener, there is still a quality field of machines heading north to the refurbished Tony Quinn owned “paperclip” track.
And once again, it can also be viewed on 7 Plus.
Whilst it’s always been harder to get a big state contingent of machines in Queensland, there’s still two comers coming on board, whilst the series leader Geoff Taunton will be looking to extend his lead after taking out the Sydney affair.
The relatively small field of 12 – most of which are hitting the road to get there – with drivers such as the Ingram brothers missing out for this round, as well as Steve Lacey who can’t make the trip on medical grounds (get well soon Steve). Brad Shields is also another to unfortunately withdraw
The locals include the likes of series regular Ashley Jarvis in the Monaro, whilst local Tim Triton will also be making his debut in the well known Honda Prelude that was built by Derick van Zelm. The machine used to find regular championship success in the Vic State series.
There’s also Daniel Crompton in Phil Crompton’s Mustang that will likely run up the front.
Todd O’Brien is also coming with a new 6L MARC GEN1 Mazda V8 joining in, whilst Micheal Rowell can also be considered a debutant in his IRC SS Mustang after his mechanical issues at SMP.
It’s also a big round for Steve Tamasi, whose swift Holden Calibra looked the goods at SMP before it suffered at the wet opening round.
Nick Smith is another to continue his series return in the smaller capacity turbo Mazda RX7, whilst for mine, it’s a huge round for young Cadel Evans in the new John Gourlay Audi.
The highly talented 17-year old was held back in the wet at SMP, but the machine returns after getting a vital rear wing adjustment that should see it as highly competitive.
He’s a good chance to take his first national win, and is certainly one to watch for the future, especially in the quality of the machine that he’s piloting.
Series manager Micheal Robinson has also sorted out his sensor issues in the Monaro with it also having spent some time on the dyno, whilst in some good news for the future, his new Mustang is also nearing completion.
In terms of how the season is progressing, Robinson says that this year sees the series in a bit of a holding pattern.
“I think we’re in a bit of an unknown time at the moment, but we’re not the only category struggling with numbers at the moment,” he told Auto Action.
“It’s not unusual in Queensland for us, it presents the hardest travel round this year, whilst the next round at Winton should see a substantial pick up in numbers. The likes of the Ingram brothers and Ryan Humfrey should be back also.
“SMP was quite good but it was a bit wet. And with Taunton taking the cake in his green SS, he’s certainly looking the one to beat this year.”
There is plenty of action to be had for the SRO Motorsports Australia round, which is also the first time for the Sports Sedans on its bill. The National Sports Sedans will be on track for three practice sessions, a Saturday morning Qualifying, and three 23 minute races.
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