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At Mount Panorama on Friday some categories had races, while others had qualifying sessions, as the weekend started to spring to life.
Here is a brief wrap of what happened in each category at the mountain.
Touring Car masters
John Bowe won the first race of the Touring Car Masters.
Bowe, in his Ford Mustang Trans Am, continued his domination with a win from pole position, setting the race and lap record.
Bowe’s set a time of 2:21.1035, eclipsing the previous time set by the late Jason Richards in 2011.
The race ended under safety car, and was shortened by a lap, after an incident at McPhillamy Park on lap four. Brett Youlden and Bill Pye made contact with each other, heading into McPhillamy and before ending up stuck in the sand trap.
Andrew Fisher, in the Jesus Racing Falcon, ended up in the sand trap after being forced off the track due to the incident.
This allowed Bowe a free passage to victory under the safety car.
The Touring Car Masters will be back for a second race tomorrow.
Porsche Carrera Cup
Steven Richards won a shortened first race of the weekend in the Porsche Carrrera Cup, closing the gap in the championship to just three points between himself and Warren Luff.
Luff, in his No Second Chance Racing Porsche, finished second. David Russell rounded out the top three in his JBS Australia Porsche.
The race was shortened after a first-lap incident which involved Elite Class driver Tony Bates and Duvashen Padayachee, who made contact with each other heading towards the Cutting. This put Bates into the wall on the left-hand side of the track, before he made slight contact with the right-hand side, as he came to a stop on the track.
This eliminated Bates from the race and also ended the races of Ash Samadi, James Bergmuller and Marc Cini, who all suffered damage to their cars after making contact with each other and Bates after the incident.
After a two-lap safety car, only seven laps were completed, before it became a timed race.
With only 70 per cent of the race completed, half points were awarded to the drivers.
Aussie Racing Cars
Starting from third on the grid, South Australia’s Sam Milton held off a late challenge from Grant Denyer to take the win.
Rhett Noonan rounded out the top three in his Holden Cruze.
The Aussie Racing Cars will have two races on Saturday to complete their weekend.
V8 Utes
David Sieders secured pole position for the first V8 Ute race on Saturday after Kris Walton had his time taken away from him after the session was completed, following an infringement in Parc Ferme.
This handed Sieders pole for the race and gave him a new lap record in a V8 Ute, with a 2:31.1648.
Western Australian Rhys McNally will start alongside Sieders on the front row after doing a 2:31.3141. Ryan Hasford rounded out the top three, with Walton relegated to fourth position after his pole time was invalidated.
Dunlop series
Paul Dumbrell will start from pole position for the 250-kilometre endurance race in the Dunlop Series.
In a dominant display of driving by the championship leader, he was seven-tenths quicker than Chris Pither, who was second for IceBreak Racing.
Dumbrell’s time of 2:06.9937 is also the first time a Dunlop Series car has been in the 6s at Mt Panorama.
Andrew Jones for Freightliner Racing rounded out the top three, with championship contenders Cameron Waters and Ash Walsh fourth and fifth after strong sessions.
The best of the rookies at the mountain in the Dunlop Series was Todd Hazlewood. The South Australian finished an impressive ninth in the session and continues as the leading rookie in the series.
Saturday’s 250 kilometre race starts at 1pm.
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