Quinn soars to stunning GT4 win
Ryder Quinn had every right to be ecstatic after soaring from 24th to first alongside Stevan Jakic in a stunning GT4 Australia race at The Bend.
Young gun Quinn produced a stint for the ages, flying home with fastest lap after fastest lap to reel in Tom Hayman and take a stunning success in the Thunder Buddies Racing BMW.
Despite being second on the road, Hayman and Max Geoghegan still claimed the Silver Cup honours.
With Rylan Gray and George Miedecke only securing seventh, this puts the Method Motorsport McLaren back into the championship lead.
But all the attention was on Quinn as he could not stop himself from laughing in ecstasy after what he had achieved, soaring through the field like a knife through hot butter.
“Even until the end I was pushing as hard as I could and almost lost it a lot. The car was a rocket ship,” Quinn said.
“I don’t know if there was a corner exit where I was not in the rocks so it looked sketchy. It was amazing.”
When the lights went out, Miedecke and Geoghegan put on a great show, dicing side by side for the lead across the first five corners.
Camilleri was best of the rest, but lost it at the hairpin and suffered a lazy spin in front of the pack.
He spun into the path of fellow Fords Tim Leahey and Altzman as three Mustangs were wiped out in one corner.
It sparked an instant Safety Car, stopping the thrilling fight for the lead.
Miedecke had emerged in front, but with the veteran being unsure of the scenario, he decided to allow Geoghegan back through to avoid a possible penalty.
The battle resumed with less than 40 minutes left on the clock and the McLaren again emerged in front.
Geoghegan then pressed on, pulling 2s before the stops took place with 24 minutes to go.
These proved critical as after the driver changes were made, the Miedecke Motorsport Mustang was significantly on the back foot following a timing issue in the lane.
While Hayman retained the lead, Purdie, Hughes, Campbell and Seton all emerged ahead of Gray, pushing him to seventh.
The Method Motorsport McLaren appeared unbeatable, only for Hayman to surrender the lead to Purdie by running wide coming out of Turn 5 on Lap 15.
A lap later came the latest blow for the Mustang brigade as Crick and Campbell were wiped out.
The pair were fourth on the road and leading Silver Am but a pit stop breach of being released 0.7s too soon saw them hit with a drive through.
This brought the class race alive with Quinn on the charge and he snatched it from Seton with ease.
However, Quinn was not just settled with class honours, as a chain of fastest laps brought him in contention for overall honours.
He caught the compressed leading group of Purdie, Hayman and Hughes in a flash.
Quinn sensed his shot and sent it into the hairpin and the late lunge paid off, snatching third from Hughes.
Later that lap the fight for victory also came alive with Purdie running wide coming out of Turn 12.
This forced the Audi driver to cover, but the move did not stop Hayman from soaring around the outside at the flowing Turn 14.
But Quinn still had the ultimate pace and after picking off Purdie with ease down the main straight, he set his sights on Hayman.
The BMW could not be slowed as he blazed past with a smart dive at the first corner and did not look back.
Quinn ended up completing his stunning drive with a 2.3s margin.
A post-race penalty for Purdie cost him a top five finish, which promoted Gray to sixth.
But that was not enough to keep the championship lead for the #35.
GT4 Australia wraps up at Hampton Downs at the end of October.
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