PERTH - DAY 2
Saturday 18th May 2024
Day two of the Perth SuperSprint was a busy day with both qualifying and first race of the weekend for our VCS and DS2 drivers.
Both Cam and Thomas’ cars were fast paced again following on from Friday’s strong form, a few changes overnight and hopes were high for qualifying. Qualifying was intense with the three-part qualifying sessions, however both drivers were driving hard and were looking good for the second qualifying session. Unfortunately, Thomas was on track to finish in 5th place just behind Cam when he was issued a kerb strike penalty, which not only voided the lap he was on, but also the lap following the kerb strike. The reason behind not recognizing the lap after the kerb strike is valuable gains may be made with a quicker run into turn 1. The penalty led Thomas from starting the race in P17 and Cam in P3.
Cam and Thomas had great starts with Cam entering turn 1 in P3 and Thomas had made up to positions by turn 1. Thomas continued with his strong pace and made another 2 positions by lap 3. Cam continued to chase down the two cars ahead. Thomas’ strategy was to pit early to remove him from the traffic, which gave him a couple of car advantage and fresh air. Cam’s stop saw him rejoin in 4th position behind Ryan Wood and that is where the green-eyed monster piloted by Cam hunted wood down to make for great racing in the last three laps of the race. Cam had a couple of moves on Wood, one which saw him having to readdress his position, so he was not awarded the same penalty as Thoms in qualifying. Last lap and the last corner, Cam simply ‘sent it’ to finish in third place.
The DS2 boys had a mixed bag for qualifying with Brad in 3rd position, Lochie in position 11 and Rylan in 12th position. The race proved frustrating with the starter motor in Brads car failing on the grid so even though the crew ultimately replaced the Part Brad was deemed as a DNF , Lochie had a solid race finishing in position ten for a top ten finish, Rylan moved from 12th down to P7 until a safety car was called & on the restart pushed a little to hard into Turn 1 resulting in an off & had to recover for a finishing position of 20th.
All Drivers reported in having strong fast cars under them so still a collective solid finish by all except for Brads starter motor fault but Sunday is official Race Day so lets see what our boys can deliver tomorrow for the Team
