Kiwi Ryan Wood has twice finished second while Thomas Sargent took a double victory at Queensland Raceway in the first two sprint races in Round 2 of the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia Series.
“It was a good points haul today with two second places,” commented Wood. “We’ll tune regroup and have another crack tomorrow for the 35 lapper.”
Starting from the outside of the front row, Sargent lost the start to polesitter Wood at the commencement of Race one, however a canny switchback move at turn one saw him slice up the inside of his rival to re-take the lead. The pair then pulled away from the field, lapping beneath the existing QR lap record in their own private battle for the race lead.
Sargent set a new lap record on lap four (1m10.6046s) and edged away from Wood to claim his second win of the season.
Aron Shields finished an outstanding third in his McElrea Racing entry while Sam Shahin was fourth outright and first in Morris Pro-Am.
Fellow Kiwi Madeline Stewart was a personal-best fifth outright – and fourth in Pro – while Courtney Prince charged her way through the field to grab sixth outright, having qualified outside the top-10.
Race two saw more of the same from the pair on the front row, though this time it was the Tegra Australia/CHE Engineering car of Sargent who led into turn one.
The pair remained that way for the opening laps, with Shields holding on to third and Courtney Prince up to fourth.
Bloxsom climbed to fifth, in front of Madeline Stewart, while behind them Sam Shahin and Brett Boulton battled for the lead in Morris Pro-Am, sharing several side-by-side moments in their own ‘race within a race’.
The race ultimately finished under Safety Car following a collision between Richard Cowen and Gerald Murphy at turn three.
The lengthy recovery required ensured the race finished behind the Safety Car with Sargent taking his second straight win.
Provisionally he takes the series lead into tomorrow’s third and final race of the weekend with a four-point advantage over round one winner, Ryan Wood.
The field re-sets overnight before tomorrow’s Jim Richards’ Endurance Trophy race, which will conclude the second round of the championship.
The race commences at 11:10am AEST at Queensland Raceway.
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