Victorian driver Thomas Randle has taken out the first race in this weekend’s Skye Sands Australian Sports Sedan Series at the Shannons Nationals at Queensland Raceway.
Randle drove his 6 litre SAAB V8 to a comfortable victory over fellow Victorian Steven Tamasi in the Calibra V8 with the Mustang of Phil Crompton coming home third.
Steven Lacey in a Camaro was fourth, ahead of another Victorian Shane Woodman in his Chev powered BMW and Shane Bradford.
Adam Hargraves was seventh, with Geoff Taunton, Colin Smith and Michael Robinson in his Monaro rounding out the top 10 cars.
After qualifying on the front row of the grid on second, Tony Ricciardello retired on Lap 8, after mechanical gremlins haunted his race.
In other races on Saturday Tim Leahey and Beric Lynton won the ‘Fight in the Night’ Australian Production Car Series race at Queensland Raceway, in a race full of challenges.
With three aborted starts, a rollover and even some thunder, the duo picked up the lead mid-race to cross the chequered by just over a second to Ryan Simpson and Jim Pollicina.
Grant and Iain Sherrin rounded out the podium, with Kyle Alford and Anthony Alford coming home fourth.
Justin Anthony and Karl Begg were fifth outright and first home in Class A2, while Robert Rubis and Scott Turner took out Class B1 honours in ninth.
Class C went to brothers Kyle and Blake Aubin in 12th outright, with Class I going to Jamie Furness and Brad Wickham in 13th.
Chris Manley took out Class D in 18th, with Cem Yucel and Iain Salteri taking out Class E in 19th.
The Lotus of Tony D’Alberto and Grant Denyer was looking strong to take the win, but mid-race the car suffered some mechanical failures.
The team pitted and managed to finish 21st.
Ryan Epa also had a tough night, rolling his Suzuki Swift in the early stages of the race, with no injuries to the driver.
A great win for recent In Pit Lane guest Cooper Murray in a thrilling Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge race, after claiming the lead in the late stages of the endurance race.
A great start from Simon Fallon saw him ‘thread the needle’ and go straight into the lead from the second row, with Max Vidau ultimately claiming the lead a few corners later.
Vidau led majority of the 40-lap encounter, with Murray making a move and making it stick shortly before a Safety Car.
The Safety Car was called late in the race, which then saw a one-lap dash to the chequered.
Murray held first ahead of Vidau, with Jimmy Vernon having a fantastic drive finishing third.
Chelsea Angelo, another recent In Pit Lane guest stormed to the front with fourth, ahead of Fallon.
The first Pro-Am entrant home was Brett Boulton in sixth, while Christian Pancione was first home in Class B in ninth.
David Barram had a convincing win in the Australian Prototype Series, backing up his strong performance in qualifying.
With Jason Makris getting the initial jump on Barram at the start of the race, the Chiron LMP3 claimed the lead and won the opening race by just over four seconds.
Mark Laucke was second, with Makris rounding out today’s podium.
Young racer Sage Murdoch was fourth, ahead of the first Radical of Stephen Champion.
Carmelo Bonaventura was sixth, ahead of Grant Green and Scott Bingham.
Brian Pettit and Brenton Keough rounded out the top 10.
The series will return tomorrow for a further two races.
Brock Giblin has taken the first race win in the Hyundai Excel Series X3 . After qualifying on pole position, Giblin won the race by an impressive seven and a half seconds, with Cameron Bartholomew coming home second. Brett Parrish was third in the opening race, ahead of Mark Goldspink.
Series X3 Queensland will return to the Shannons Nationals line-up tomorrow, with two more races.
With Shannons Media.
