TABLES TURNED

After finishing runner-up to Dylan Thomas in the first race of round three of the Australian Manufacturers Championship at the Phillip Island motor racing circuit, Garry Holt and Ryan McLeod have turned the tables on the Saturday winner by taking out the second race last Sunday May 27.

Holt started the one hour event in his newly acquired Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X and only briefly lost the lead once before the round of compulsory pitstops where McLeod took over to bring the Eastern Creeks Karts flyer home some 4.6 seconds ahead.

In more predictable weather conditions than the previous day, Thomas who drove his CXC Global Evo 9 singlehandedly, couldn’t count on a smart strategy like his soft tyre call of race one, and took second – over 18 seconds clear of the Easts Holiday Parks Evo 9 driven by Des Wall.

The championship leading Team Mitsubishi Ralliart Evo X, shared by Stuart Kostera and Inky Tulloch, started out of position three, jumped the start marginally (for an added on 5 second penalty), managed to gain the lead briefly before a spin, then was involved in an incident in pitlane congestion that comprised their event further.

Not as much as the Jim Pollicina/Dean Lillee Evo X which was delayed by well over a lap as their team endeavoured to secure the drivers’ side door, damaged in the incident when the two Evo Xs made contact. They would eventually finish sixth behind the Class C winning Grand Prix Mazda of Jake Camilleri. Class C cars also filled seventh, eighth and ninth with Peter O’Donnell’s GWS Personnel BMW 130i finishing ahead of the Osborne Motorsport Mazdas of class points leader Adam Dodd and Colin Osborne.

In Class D it was a battle of survival with both the Mark Eddy/Francois Jouy Network Clothing Honda Integra and the Inertia Apparel Ford Fiesta of Phil and Decklan Kirkham succumbing to front hub failures, leaving the Safe-T-Stop Renault Clio to win class honours ahead of the Midwest Multimedia Mini Cooper S of Trevor Keene and the Matt McGill/Geoff Brunsdon Toyota Celica.

Ahead of them in tenth was the lone Class I BMW Mini JCW of Danny Stutterd while Grant Phillips and Andrew Turpie were left with the Class E win in their Proton Satria after the Madison Gray/Samantha Bennett fell short of a finish by just a lap.

All that action from last weekend’s AMC third round can be seen on Speedweek on SBS, screening at a time to be advised on June 17, and on Speed TV on Fox July 11.

The next outing for production cars in the Australian Manufacturers Championship will take place with round four on the Shannons Nationals at Queensland Raceway on August 11-12.  

AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND THREE RACE TWO RESULT

1 Garry Holt/Ryan McLeod (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) 1:01:09.0557

2 Dylan Thomas (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 1:01:13.7206

3 Des Wall (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 1:01:32.3872

4 Stuart Kostera/Inky Tulloch (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) 1:01:56.0305

5 Jake Camilleri (Mazda 3 MPS) 1:02:12.4764

6 Jim Pollicina/Dean Lillie (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) 30 laps

7 Peter O'Donnell (BMW 130i) 30 laps 8 Adam Dodd (Mazda 3 MPS) 30 laps

9 Colin Osborne (Mazda 3 MPS) 30 laps

10 Danny Stutterd (BMW Mini JCW) 29 laps

11 Richard Gartner (Renault Clio) 29 laps

12 Trevor Keene (Mini Cooper S) 29 laps

13 Matt McGill/Geoff Brunsdon (Toyota Celica) 29 laps

14 Grant Phillips/Andrew Turpie (Proton Satria GTi) 26 laps

DNF Madison Gray/Samantha Bennett (Toyota Echo) 25 laps

DNF Decklan Kirkham/Phil Kirkham (Ford Fiesta) 20 laps

DNF Mark Eddy/Francois Jouy (Honda Integra) 11 laps

Fastest lap: McLeod 1:46.6145

Class A – Extreme Performance 1  Garry Holt/Ryan McLeod (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X)      

Class C – Performance Touring 1  Jake Camilleri (Mazda 3 MPS))      

Class D – Production Touring 1  Richard Gartner (Renault Clio)     

Class E – Compact Touring 1  Grant Phillips/Andrew Turpie  (Proton Satria GTi)      

Class I – Mini Cup 1  Danny Stutterd (BMW Mini JCW)