The BMW team of Grant and Iain Sherrin have won the Wakefield Park round Australian Production Car Championship class 1A and overall APC Cup Championship.
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The two 300 kilometre endurance races races were not unlitke the Armstrong or Bathurst 500 of the 1960s in that it is open to various car classes. Unlike the Bathurst 1000 of late where the cars are a long way removed from the road going versions, these machines are essentially similar to the street registered vehicles with a few modifications. In the pits crews still have to contend with Trolley jacks and four or five studs and nuts on each wheel. Thought they can use battery powered rattle guns to undo and tighten the wheel nuts.
It was a fantastic weekend for the Sherrin Renatls Racing Team after qualifying on pole, they brought the BMW M4 home in first place on Saturday afternoon and on the rain affected track and capped it off with a well calculated race plan on Sunday.
There was lots of action at Wakefield Park in the Australian Production Cars Championship round On Saturday rain and wind made racing conditions difficult. The first race for the second heat of Excels was run entirely in the wet, though the first group only had to contend with a slight shower.
The track had dried somewhat for the start of the first 300 kilometre Production Car Championship race on Saturday and it was obvious from early in the race that the Sherrin’s BMW would be a strong contender as it progressively built a lead, lapping the slower cars fairly quickly and progressing steadily through the field.
Sunday’s race under dry conditions sorted out the teams who had strategically planned their race from the others.
Tyre wear became a factor particularly for the four wheel drive cars with several having to pit after punctures, usually to the left hand front tyre, where wear was heaviest.
The Sherrin Rentals car lead for most of the race but dropped into second when they pitted for the compulsory driver change.
On Lap 84 Lachlan Gibbons was positioned 48 seconds ahead of the the Sherrin car, but they had not made their driver change pit stop and were the only car left in the field not to do so.
Several competitors spent extended periods in the pits dealing with mechanical, tyre or electrical issues that would put them further behind the leaders, but there was no such problems either day for the Sherrin’s car 18.
As Grant Sherrin said post race two, “The car went awesome today we just can't fault it we had the grip, we had the speed and we just got in front and managed it from there.”
Apart from tyre changes and fuel stops or the compulsory driver change they spent minimal time off the circuit.
When Gibbons brought the number 66 Subaru in to swap over with Dimitri Agathos they ran into problems with the communications cables and Agathos had to complete the remainder of the race without radio communications with his pit crew.
This gave the Sherrin car with Grant Sherrin in the driver’s seat the lead and once there he steadily lengthened his gap on the rest of the field.
With 100 laps completed Grant Sherrin was over a lap ahead of Dimitri Agathos in second position and Patrick Galang third in a BMW. There were 31 laps to go and a schedule race finish of 5pm.
Jay Robotham pulled the Pedders Motorsports Training Hyundai into the pits with with some sort of computer issue to re set it and then head back out onto the track just beyond the the 100 lap mark.
Matt Boylan was leading class E in the FullGas Racing Nissan he shared the driving with Breanna Wilson.
The various classes of vehicle racing together not only for line honours, but also class honours in the championships made the racing much more interesting and created more slower traffic situations where the leaders had to negotiate their way past the cars they were lapping.
This was not unlike the Bathurst 500 and other touring car races of the 1960s and early 70s where
Car 11 suffered a flat left front tyre with 11 laps to go their sixth visit to the pits.
Matt Boylan also into the pits on about 9 laps to go.
Toward the end of the race several cars experienced issues.
At lap 121 grant Sherrins leading with Dimitri Agathos one lap down and in second position with the car in third position the was three laps down on the leader.
The Agathos/Gibbons Subaroo crew elected not to change the left side tyres during their pit stop .
Race one for the weekend was slowed by wet conditions, Sunday the racing was completed in the dry and at a much faster pace in all classes.
In the closing stages of Sunday’s race, on lap 128, Sherrin’s car 18, BMW M4 was two laps up on Dimitri Agathos in the number 66 Subaru and four laps ahead of the number 444 BMW with David Giugni in the seat.
Matt Boylan and Brianna Wilson back out but too many laps down due to the late race brake issue that required drastic action to get the car back out on the track.
Grant and Iain Sherrin took the win with the Subaru of Lachlan Gibbons and Dimitri Agathos achieveing a personal best result finishing second behind the Sherrin Racing M4.
Anthony Soole and David Giugni rounded out today’s podium, while first home for B1 and fourth outright went to Scott Gore and Patrick Galang.
Class C went to Colin Osborne and Hadrian Morrall while brothers Blake and Kyle Aubin sealed the D class victory.
B2 went to Troy Williams and Gordon Wilson, while Jason Walsh and Paul Currie led a competitive class E field in today’s race.
Electrical dramas stalled Nathan Morcom and Andre Heimgartner, who had to settle for seventh in Sunday's race.
Steve McLaughlan has sealed his second national title at Wakefield Park, after winning both races in the CAMS Australian GT Trophy Series.
Qualifying on the front row, McLaughlan got the jump over pole sitter Richard Gartner in the first race.
In Race 2 the Audi driver led the entire 50-minute encounter, handing him both the round win and the 2017 series.
Pushing McLaughlan hard throughout the weekend was the Lamborghini of Gartner, who banked a pair of second place finishes across both races.
Rounding out the Trophy Class podium was the impressive Rio Nugara, who was one of just four drivers to set a sub-60-second time in qualifying on Saturday.
In the Challenge class, Mark Griffith sealed the title with second in class behind Andrew Clarke in Race 2.
Griffith had been forced out of the opening race with a suspension problem, while Jamie Arratoon saw his hopes of the Challenge Class title evaporate with mechanical gremlins throughout Race 2.
Cam Wilson has claimed back-to-back Circuit Excel National titles, after winning today’s final race at Wakefield Park.
The Queenslander battle hard amongst the younger drivers in the field, with 15-year-old Jaylyn Robotham taking the lead on several occasions in the race.
The 21-lap encounter saw Wilson cross the line by just eight-tenths of a second, with Robotham second in the title chase.
Ben Bargwanna gave it his all having a shot at taking the title, racing hard to cross the chequered third.
Brett Parish was fourth while Victorian racers Jordyn Sinni and Adam Bywater finished fifth and sixth respectively.
Micheal Clemente, Ashley Wright, Marcus Fraser and David Wood rounded out the top 10.