The Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships’ second round joined onto the yearly Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 hour event this year with categories including Radicals, Excels, TCR, GT, Trans Am and of course the Bathurst 6 Hour entries.
Let’s go category by category for an update!
Bathurst 6 Hour
Shane van Gisbergen just can’t seem to keep himself off the top of the charts in any category he races and in the two one-hour practice sessions he stayed on top of the charts including shaving a second and a half off his first time of the day in the 2nd session.
His biggest challengers were the reigning champions Beric Lynton and Tim Leahey with Lyton getting within three-tenths of van Gisbergen’s morning time and Leahey around the one-second mark for the afternoon session.
Radical Australia
The motorbike engine powered wings and slicks cars are truly one of the most underrated categories racing in local Australian motorsport at the moment and seeing them at national events like this is fantastic.
However unfortunately for competitors today both sessions were red flagged however Neale Muston managed to go fastest in practice and qualified on pole.
A massive 5 second gap between pole and second place getter Brad Sheils was joined very closely by Chris Perini and Peter Paddon with just over a second separating the threesome.
MRF Excel Bathurst Challenge
55 Hyundai Excels racing around Bathurst is a sight to behold. The old faithful runabouts now seeing new life as entry-level race cars performing on national events. Currently, this category is running two sets of suspension with the SupaShock giving drivers up to a second per lap advantage at tracks such as Wanneroo Raceway in Western Australia.
One driver managed to dominate the field of 55 with Cam Wilson going fastest in practice, qualifying and winning the first race of the weekend.
Wilson was never under any threat from his fellow competitors with the closest rival Tim Colombrita who moved up four places throughout the five-lap race.
Ryan Casha also put in an impressive driver climbing from ninth on the grid to finish fourth overall.
Supercheap Auto TCR Australia series
The series that is attracting some big names to it was back at it again and showing that this form of racing is very competitive and able to provide variations in results at the pointy end of the sheets.
Lee Holdsworth and Jordan Cox were the only two drivers to get regular spots in the top five with appearing 3rd and 1st in the first session with guest appearances from Garth Tander, John Martin and Tony D’Alberto while in the second practice session Holdsorth topped the times with Cox finishing fifth and guest appearances by Chaz Mostert, Dylan O’Keefe and Aaron Cameron.
Motorsport Australia GT Championships
Double duties didn’t hold Garth Tander putting in a huge lap to finish fastest outright for the day with a sub 2 minute and five second time.
Brett Hobson in his Nissan Nismo GT3 was the fastest in the GT Trophy series during the first session.
In the second practice session of the day, Tander’s co-driver Yasser Shahin was second behind Adrien Deitz by over one and a half seconds. Hobson meanwhile was once again the best of the Trophy series and put his car in third overall.
National Trans Am Series
The Trans Am series was dominated by Aaron Seton who went fastest in both practice sessions before ensuring his front of the grid start in the afternoon.
The qualifying session was cut short for three laps after Tim Brook crashed out, however there was plenty of pace shown by Seton qualifying two and a half seconds faster than the second placed driver Ben Grice.
The main challenger for the day came in the form of Nathan Herne who put his car within one second of Seton in the first practice session, however, with his team opting for a replacement engine, he’ll be starting at the back of the grid.
For all the latest on the Shannon’s Motorsport Australia Championships and the Bathurst 6 Hour find them on Facebook or visit their websites.
