Super Sprint weekend at Winton
Last weekend, Winton Motor Raceway played host to Round 3 of the Winton Sprint Series as well as another successful Winton Fun Day.
Saturday’s super sprint action featured a very strong entry list of competitors, with over 60 cars competing for honours within their class.
The event took place on Saturday, featuring purpose-built tin top racing cars, open-wheel racing cars and ultra-fast road cars.
The fastest driver of the day was Justin Yuen, he set a 1m 24.366s time at the wheel of his Hyper Racer X1, the very vehicle he races in the Australian Drivers’ Championship.
He was entered in the Junior category and as a result dominated his competitors driving entry level racing cars such as Excels and Pulsars. Jake Riddiford was second with Liam Brown third.
In total there were 62 cars entered to compete across eight classes of competition.
Racing Cars Over 2 Litre contained a brilliant mixture of BMWs, Audis, Holdens, Fords and everything in between.
Dean Koutsoumidis driving a Toyota Supra took the win in class, he set a 1m 30.147s time, beating BMW M3 driver Matt Sears by 2.44s. It was incredibly tight for third, VX Holden driver Nigel Armstrong pipped the nimble Mazda MX5 driven by Richard Renato by just 0.03s.
Racing Cars Up to 2 Litre saw a Toyota 86 1-2, Dan Fewster pipped Adam Schuurman by a quarter of a second, with Gary Dowling rounding out the top three a further 2s in arrears.
Open Wheel/Clubman featured Hyper Racers X1s, Formula Fords, Vees and Clubmans.
As it was in the junior category, the class win went the way of a Hyper Racer driver, Steuart Richards set a 1m 33.244s, 2.5s clear of Chris O’Connor. Robert Pern was third fastest, his 1m 37.5 was set very early in the day.
Road Registered Up to 2 Litre was the joint biggest category, with a dozen cars entered in class. Cohen Brown in a Honda Integra DC5 was the fastest driver of the day, his 1m 41.162s time was set late in the day, over 2s clear of the chasing pack.
Toyota GT86 driver Benjamin Sturgess was second fastest with a 1m 43.223 time, 0.6s faster than John Tyack in a Mazda MX5, his best time came on his penultimate lap.
Road Registered Over 2 Litre was tightly fought, Aaron Brain at the wheel of his BMW 1M was just 0.5s faster than Richard Gay in a Mitsubishi Mirage. Clinton Gazelle was third fastest, he could not match the top two despite setting his best lap on the final lap. The Holden Commodore competitor was 2.38s off the best time.
Although Felice Di Tirro dominated High Performance Up to 2 Litre driving a Mazda MX5, the fight for second went down to the wire. Driving a Pulsar Gavan Nolan edged out Terry Maher by a margin of just 0.2s.
Thanh Tran driving a BMW M3 Touring beat fellow BMW driver Les Sears by 1s in High Performance Over 2 Litre, Wes Deane driving a Ford Falcon rounded out the podium.
The final round of the Winton Sprint Series takes place November 16, where the champions will be crowned.
Sunday was a fun day for all, it was a great Father’s day present for many of our competitors in a relaxed race track environment. Fun days give drivers a chance to explore their cars potential in a relaxed controlled environment.
Competitors flocked to take part, not even rain could keep them away. In total 90 cars were seen on track. Across the course of the day 118 drivers strapped themselves into the driver’s seat and 40 passengers also lapped the circuit.