Hayden Cooper capitalised on the tight track and warmer conditions of the 11am Driver B qualifying session to post a 1m 15.578s best lap, putting himself on pole for tomorrow’s hour endurance race. With 25 Production Sports Cars set to do battle, track space will be at a premium, especially on the narrow run into the second corner of the tight Morgan Park circuit.
Despite not counting towards the endurance championship or race starting positions tomorrow, today’s twin sprint races saw strong fields of twenty and nineteen cars respectively taking to the circuit. In the first race for designated A drivers, Grant Sparks took the lead early posting his best 1m 19.691s lap on the third tour. Behind him Graham Lusty, John Perfontaine, Adam Burgess and Roger Hill engaged in a great battle for third place, with Lusty eventually leading the group home in his Mosler MT900 GT.
While the first race was an exiting battle, race two saw the co-drivers put on an even more thrilling show. As Matt Campbell continued on from where Sparks left off, leading the field comfortably home. Behind him Graham Lusty and Robert Hackwood put their respect Mosler and Lotus on the line through the turn eight sweeper, Lusty finding the dirt through turn nine. That moment allowed for Roger Hill to momentarily gain an advantage over the pair, however the Nissan GTR R35 driver couldn’t capitalise on it, slipping a few seconds behind the battle. Ultimately Lusty got the advantage over Hackwood, taking home another third place.
Of the NSW contingent making the trek north of the border, Adam Burgess led home the charge in race one, bringing his Ginetta G50 home for fifth. In the second race of the afternoon, the mantle was picked up by Phil Treloar who moved his Porsche 993 up into sixth place by the conclusion of the days proceedings.
The Production Sports Cars hit the track tomorrow at approximately 9:20am for their morning warm up before taking the grid for the one hour endurance race in the early afternoon.
