WEEKEND WRAP – NSW PTC Armour All Sydney SuperNight
The return of racing following the forced lay-off could not have been more exciting, playing support category to the big boys in the Supercar Championship. The Saturday schedule saw two practice sessions, allowing the competitors to blow out some cob webs and grease those rusty steering wheels. The late afternoon saw a qualifying session for everyone to lay out their cards and set up the grid for the first race on Sunday.
“Quali was a mixed bag after some promising pace in the practice sessions. With 53 cars on the grid, it was challenging to find space for a clear lap and I felt like I just never really got into the groove. Before I knew it, the session was over,“ said Alex, after finishing in P21 for the day.
But a new day brings new opportunities, and the forecast was looking ominous, which would really suit the characteristics of the #45 AMG A45 with it’s 4-Matic drive system and road car based electronic driver aids.
Race 1
Lining up in P19 on the grid (after some late-night grid penalties), Alex was ready for a fast start to consolidate position and pray the rain arrived in time to take effect. Prior to the race, the GWR team received some coaching tips from Garth about the preferred wet lines at various corners of the track. The first lap saw Alex make up 1 position, jostling with a number of cars for the first 3 laps, but then the rain arrived!
Over the next few laps Alex kept pushing forward moving up to P14 as the rain really started to set in. “I had Garth’s words in my head and just thought, ‘He’s a pretty good driver, I’ll do what he said,’ which really seemed to work as a lot of cars struggled with mid-corner grip and speed on the racing line. By taking the wet line, I was able to carry more speed and accelerate sooner out of the corner, which was awesome fun!”.
Jumping a few places each lap for the remaining laps, looking smooth, calm and collected in the Mercedes, Alex put in his fastest lap of the race on the final lap in wet conditions, to catch car #777 metres before the finish line and in doing so made up the second highest number of spots in the race to take P7.
Race 2
Race 2 was a couple of hours later and if anything, the conditions were looking more treacherous! A decent start saw Alex jump a spot, tussling for 5th/6th through the first few corners and looking fast on the wet racing line, until an unfortunate nudge by a wayward BMW caused him to spin off track. “I was on the inside of turn 5 and he was struggling to get the power down. I was easy on the gas and hoping he would straighten up but the slightest of touches from the fishtailing BMW was enough to spin me around 180 degrees and off to the inside grass. Unfortunately, the rest of the field was nose to tail behind and it felt like watching an eternal funeral procession as I waited for a safe spot to rejoin!”
That safe spot was ultimately dead last, just in front of the safety car, in P47. Alex set about driving like a demon, carving up the wet conditions and getting back to P38 at the end of the first lap, P28 by the end of second lap and P23 by the end of lap 3.
“I felt like I was a P-plater again, carving up Parramatta Road during the Saturday cruise to George St in the city. The car was just on rails out on the grippy wet line and I was loving every minute of it.” The theme continued, with Alex passing car a few cars each lap, demonstrating the prowess of the A45’s 4-matic system in wet conditions, crossing the line in P9 – two places behind where he started – and making up 38 spots in 9 laps.
Race 3
Race 3 was a dry affair, but with a good grid position, Alex was keen to mix it with the faster A1 drivers and push the A45 all the way to the finish line. “The racing was fast and clean, and it was great to be dicing with the guys that were 1-2 second ahead in quali, giving me the chance to see where we differ on track. I found myself mingling with GWR Team mates, the #23 A45 (Auld) and #24 Evo X (Kavich), so we had a lot of fun chasing each other, and a learnt a lot defending and then following these super experienced campaigners.” It was a great end to the weekend, with Alex finishing in P11 (7th A1) and improving on his dry pace with his fastest lap in Race 3 quicker than the time he was able to set in quali, proving the competitive spirit does exist!
A huge thanks goes out to the our sponsors, GWR, the Supercars organisation and especially the NSW Production Touring committee and volunteers for organising and managing the best PTC race weekend in recent memory!