Tim Brook claims TA2 clean sweep at Sydney Motorsport Park

IES Camaro driver Tim Brook again clocked the fastest time in qualifying with a 1m35.1620s lap, dominating rival Josh Thomas in the #69 TFH Racing Mustang by seven tenths of a second. It was the Mustang drivers best TA2 qualifying effort to date, during Round Three of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series round at Sydney Motorsport Park. 

Rookie Diesel Thomas spun on oil in qualifying and tagged the wall at Turn 8, causing the Queenslander to start the opening race of the day from the rear of the grid 

Brook made a clean start off pole, but it was series leader Ben Gomersall who snuck up the inside into second place at Turn 1. Soon after there was contact between Gomersall and Hi-Tec Oils Camaro Brad Gartner, with former speedway star Danny Reidy also going off into the gravel trap on the run down from corporate hill.

Circo Master Class frontrunner Graham Cheney limped back to pitlane on lap 3 with a broken diff, while a four-car battle mid-pack ensued between Domain Ramsay, Des Collier, Diesel Thomas and Hayden Jackson. Two laps later Thomas, coming through from the back of the grid scored a two-for-one deal by passing Collier and Ramsay at Turn 6.

As Gartner went to complete lap 7, the South Australian ended up wide at the final corner with steering arm damage that ended his race prematurely.

Brook took the win, his third of the weekend, ahead of Josh Thomas in second and debutant Brock Paine in third, his first podium on his TA2 racing debut.

The final race of the day under lights saw the leaders go four wide into Turn 1 with Paine sneaking up the inside of Brook to take the lead, with Tom Davies and Josh Thomas going to the outside.

Mid-pack, multiple cars came together when Kiara Zabetakis clipped the damp grass on the edge of the track, spearing left into Danny Reidy with Gartner and Cheney also caught up in the fracas. Zabetakis ended up stranded at Turn 1 with heavy crash damage, Cheney stopped at Turn 2 with both needing recovery under Safety Car.

Reidy and Gartner returned to pitlane for repairs, while Cheney and Mark Crutcher both retired due to damage; the latter’s Mustang suffering a broken right-front wheel after Davies spun in front of Crutcher at Turn 2. Gartner was the only driver to return to the track, finishing 11th by race end.

On the restart, rookie Paine led the field ahead of Brook and brothers Josh and Diesel Thomas respectively as the field settled down for the majority of the race. In the final three minutes, Brook  made a run on Paine coming out of Turn 2 to take the race lead, holding on for the win to make it 4 from 4.

Paine finished a strong second place, his best on debut, while Diesel Thomas passed his brother Josh for a podium place by half a second. Josh Webster finished in fifth in a strong comeback after a frustrating day yesterday.

Diesel Thomas won the Hyperco Hard Charger Award by passing 13 cars in Race 1 today, plus the rookie of the round award, Brock Paine was awarded the Wilwood Big Braker award for his first outing in a TA2 car to finish 4^th, and Danny Reidy picked up the AC Delco Feel the Love award and $5000 worth of AC Delco power tools.

Round 4 of the TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Car Series - presented by Maritimo Luxury Yachts will be held at Queensland Raceway from June 27-29 for a single driver event, before returning to the Ipswich circuit a month later for a two-driver Round 5 from August 15-17.

QUOTES

Tim Brook, #118 IES Motorsport Chev Camaro
“What a weekend! Got the worst start of all four races in that last one, I just buzzed the rears and next thing Brock [Paine] was on the inside and Josh [Thomas] was on the outside and it all got loose into Turn 1. But a ripper race and Brock drove well, so did Diesel. It’s good to see some young talent giving us a bit of a hustle and making me work hard when I needed to. Thanks to IES Motorsport for letting me have a steer this weekend.”

Brock Paine, #33 Brock Paine Motorsport, Chevrolet Camaro 
“It’s unreal. Coming into the weekend, I would’ve been thrilled just to finish inside the top 10. After yesterday, even that felt like a long shot. So to end up on the podium, in third—that’s just unbelievable.”

“I’m not sure I had the pace to challenge the front two, but we managed our tyres well over the weekend, especially with that DNF yesterday. That definitely helped us today.”

Diesel Thomas, #18 TFH Racing Ford Mustang
“We’ve been chipping away all weekend for that podium result. We had an off-track excursion in qualifying this morning which sent us to the rear of the grid which we weren’t too happy about, but we made our way from P20 to P7 in Race 1 today which we were so happy about. 

“Coming into Race 2 we got a great jump off the start and made it up to P3 by turn two. When the safety car came out we knew we had to just maintain the position which is also my best ever result in TA2. We now know we have the pace to keep up with those front boys so I definitely have more confidence going into QR.”