AIS National’s David Sieders be looking to dominate his hometown finale for one final shot at the 2011 Championship when the Auto One V8 Ute Series – protected by Armor All hits the streets of Homebush Olympic Park this weekend, 2-4th December 2011.
The 2010 Rookie of The Year, from Londonderry in Sydney’s West, has had a solid season, and will be looking to add to his three Pole Positions, four Race Wins, three Round Podiums and Season Opening Round Win when the season wraps up in front of local friends and family.
“If nothing else, we’re looking to finish the season on a high,” said Sieders, “I’d love to do what Ryal [Harris] did on his home-track this year and clean-sweep the weekend, but as long as we get the best possible out of the car, I think the guys will be happy with wherever we end up”.
“It’d definitely be awesome to finish the season with half of the available Pole Positions and Podiums,” said Sieders, “although we’ve banked more wins and overall results than our first attempt last year, we know there’s definitely plenty of room for improvement”.
Currently sitting in third place in the ENZED Drivers’ Championship, Sieders is only 55 points away from Championship Leader Chris Pither, and nine points behind second-placed Ryal Harris, with 128 points available this weekend.
“We still have four more sessions of points, so we know the number one thing we need to do is to finish at, or as close to, the top of each session,” said Sieders, “we may still be a bit of a long shot for the Championship, but there are still plenty of things that can go our favour this weekend”.
The V8 Ute Series has become almost renowned for Championship dramas, with Grant Johnson’s exclusion from two sessions last year drop 81 points to win the title by only four points, and in 2007 Jack Elsgood’s tyre dramas saw him lose that title in the final race of the season.
“We’ve seen the past couple of Championships come down to the wire after looking like they were mere formalities,” said Sieders, “anything could happen to anyone, including [Chris] Pither, that would open the Championship right up”.
“At Sandown two weeks ago, Ryal [Harris] was involved in a number of incidents and finished last in Race Two, we were turned around and had to race back from the rear of the field, and Nathan Pretty had engine dramas that prevented him starting Race One, and had to race from rear of grid for Race Two,” said Sieders, “so I don’t think that this title will be decided until Race Three on Sunday afternoon”.
Sieders will also be looking to re-write last year’s result around the Sydney Olympic Precinct where he ran out of time in Qualifying, and ran out of track in Race One.
“Like all street tracks, the Homebush circuit can claim drivers right through the field at any time,” said Sieders, “we were quick in Practice, but our timing in Qualifying was thrown out last year in a wet session, which left us down the field and ended up getting caught up in someone else’s accident for our only DNF [Did Not Finish] in the category to date, which saw the front-end of our car rebuilt overnight last year, so we have a lot to prove this time around”.
The final round of the Auto One V8 Ute Series will hit the Homebush Olympic Park Street Circuit for two Practice Sessions on Friday at 12:40 and 17.05, with Qualifying at 10.55 on Saturday before Race One at 17.45, with Sunday hosting the Reverse Grid Race Two at 08.30 and the final race of the season at 11.15, telecast as live on Network Seven at midday.
“It’s the last round for the year, and we’ll be taking the fight for the Championship all the way until the chequered flag on Sunday.”