The awesome MR crew and Sprint Challenge drivers had a test at 'The Bend' the week prior to the race weekend and felt confident that our drivers would be very competitive in both Pro and Pro-Am classes.
Turns out, we weren’t wrong, but as usual, it’s never plain sailing in such a competitive championship.
Daniel had a bad start in race 1 dropping out of the top 10, before a great drive back up to 5th.
In race 2 he had a decent start before some contact with another front-runner causing a power steering failure and a very long 10 laps till the end of the race.
In race 3 Daniel started 9th and had another staggering comeback drive and fastest lap, to take a very unrepresentative 5th for the race and 6th for the weekend.
Race 1 showed huge promise, starting 4th before getting to the lead, a couple of small mistakes meant finishing 3rd on the road.
Kamal had a solid race 2 starting in 3rd, getting to 2nd, then getting himself in the wars, dropping to 20th, then fighting back up to 11th, before a penalty cost him 2 more places.
In race 3 Kamal was in the battle the whole race, starting 13th and pushing through to 7th by the end of the 45 minute ‘enduro’.
Gilbo simply dominated Pro-Am in race 1, finishing 12th outright with three younger Pro drivers behind him at the end.
In race 2 he ended up in a bit of mischief dropping him to 4th, before a comeback drive back to 2nd.
In race 3 Gilbo dominated Pro-Am, and due to his strong pace he was racing against the younger Pro drivers, which created high levels of risk which he managed to perfection, to stay out of trouble and take another win.
Kent had a great first race dicing with more experienced Pro-Ams eventually taking 5th.
In race 2 he had another busy race, including a very brave outside pass on Padayachee at turn 16.
In race 3 Kent had a terrific race starting from 6th and racing his way forward eventually taking 3rd position in a thrilling pass at the last corner of the last lap to take a totally well-deserved first podium.
Tim had the best result of his short Porsche racing career qualifying an impressive 3rd and finishing 2nd in race 1.
In race 2 it was a tad more challenging with an ‘off’ on lap 1 dropping him to the back of the 23-car field before a great recovery drive back to 4th in Pro-Am.
We were looking forward to seeing Tim on his first Sprint Challenge podium, due to his strong points position after the first two races, but a clutch failure at the start of race 3 ended those hopes.
Round 2 at The Bend was a great success for the MR team and drivers, with highlights including Kent’s first ever Sprint Challenge podium and outstanding improvement in pace and consistency.
Obviously, we are all rapt to see Gilbo take his second round win after his 6 year hiatus! Tim being in such a strong position to literally only have to finish race 3 to guarantee a podium shows his rapid improvement also.
Kamal leading race 1 and Daniel’s fastest lap of race 3 show that both our Pros are ready to win races when we can put all the pieces together over a whole race weekend.
Next up is Queensland Raceway in 5 weeks time.