Chris Alajajian has taken out the opening round of the Hertz MINI Challenge – delivered by Pizza Capers at this weekend’s Clipsal 500. The 23-year old smashed the field this morning by over 12 seconds for his second race win of the weekend which, along with his pole win, saw the young speedster take a commanding round victory.
"This has been a great start to the season and now I have to work hard to maintain the concentration I’ve shown here for the rest of the year. It’s not going to be easy with the new points system so I need to maximise wins and keep the consistency to maintain the lead in the championship. I’ll be looking forward to the Grand Prix and racing the MINI again." Explained an overjoyed Alajajian.
Second for the round went to Mr Consistent Sean Carter whose 4th, 3rd and 3rd places respectively earned him the silver trophy at Clipsal. Peter McNiven’s win on Saturday saw him climb on the final step of the rostrum today – a fine effort for his first outing in the John Cooper Works R56 MINI Challenge car.
"Our aim was for Podium finishes during the year but I never thought it would come this quick! The plan was to assess things in practice and my pace was good off the mark so I thought I’d have a go and this is the result. Keeping the car straight was the idea for the weekend as well and we did that too so in all I’m delighted with the result and hopefully we’ll continue to be ones to watch as the series progresses this season." Commented Carter.
Today’s winner was Alajajian who set a new MINI Challenge lap record with a 1m36.9s on the final lap. Dale Wood’s superb pass over Carter on lap 7 saw him pick up second place today - a fantastic effort by his entire team to get the MINI back on the track after it was involved in a heavy incident with Brendan Cook’s yesterday. Carter held on for a well deserved third to round off a fine weekend for the 19-year-old.
After retiring from race 2, the Pizza Capers UberStar driver Robbie Maddison put on a measured display of driving to finish in eighth today. 16-year-old Stone Brothers Racing Protégée Scott McLaughlin narrowly missed a podium spot to finish fourth for the weekend as he continues to develop within the sport and will be one to watch at the Australian Grand Prix in two weeks time.
The John Cooper Works R56 MINI once again thrilled crowds with some extremely close, tight-fought racing. The car steered almost all drivers through a faultless round and proved its tremendous strength and safety when Chris Wootton walked away from one of the biggest crashes in MINI Challenge history.
The next exciting round of the Hertz MINI Challenge delivered by Pizza Capers takes teams to Australia’s premier international motorsport event, Australian Grand Prix – 25 to 28 March, where they will run alongside competitors from the most elite form of motorsport – Formula 1.
News from the Round:
- Race 1 and 2 were both decided by less than 1 second!
- Alajajian takes a 24 point lead into the next round – Australian Grand Prix
- Chris Wootton rolled his MINI R56 three times in qualifying and was out for the weekend as a result. Wootton walked from the crash uninjured.
- Brendan Cook was hit, after he spun on the opening chicane, by Dale Wood in race 2 and was force to retire due to the damaged caused.
- Scott Manson took his yournextcar.com.au entry to four top-10 finishes (including qualifying) with a best result of 7th in race 2.
- Paul Stokell made a great start to qualify 2nd and finish race 1 in 3rd. Unfortunately a re-occurring engine issue halted his run but his team have identified the problem and will have the car back to winning form come Grand Prix time.
- After his team replace the catyllitic-converter on Friday night former V8 Supercar driver Dean Canto picked up the pace with an impressive 2nd and 4th in races 2 and 3 respectively.
PROVISIONAL Race 3 Results – Clipsal 500
1st Chris Alajajian
2nd Dale Wood
3rd Sean Carter
4th Dean Canto
5th Scott McLaughlin
6th Peter McNiven
7th Gavin Yortt
8th Robbie Maddison
9th Scott Manson
DNF Paul Stokell
