DecoRug Racing’s Paul Stokell has stormed to race 1 victory today during round 5 of Hertz MINI Challenge – delivered by Pizza Capers, the L&H 500 at Phillip Island.
Stokell began race 1 four on the line after grid positions were based on practice 2 from Friday under the Force Majeure ruling. This was due to a small accident in Qualifying today involving Ken Wootton which forced all competitors back to the garage without completing a time.
For this, no points were awarded for Qualifying which in-turn meant no success ballast applied to any car for the round’s first race this afternoon.
It was a magic effort by the Queenslander to move up four spots and pass Championship leader Chris Alajajian on the outside of turn 1 on just the second lap of the race.
Local favourite Sean Carter began on pole in his ON TIME EARTH R56 entry but was quickly reeled-in by the two series front-runners. To his credit the 19-year-old stuck with the pair which made for some exciting racing as the trio diced throughout the eight lap race.
After getting away to great starts Peter McNiven, Craig Innes and Josh Hunt all went off the track, on just the second turn of the circuit, relegating them down the order. Fortunately the boys fought back and all finished inside the top-10 with McNiven the best of the trio, finishing the race in fourth and proving that local experience counts for a lot around here in Phillip Island.
The battle for fifth was also a fierce one with Beric Lynton and new comer Elliot Barbour running side-by-side on the final lap from turn four until the chequered flag, with Lynton taking the spoils.
Unfortunately it wasn’t all smiles for the entire MINI Challenge contingent with the Wootton’s in the wars after Ken was forced in on the out lap with engine sensor issues. Son Chris was running as high as fifth until a fan belt snapped, forcing the youngster to retire from the race. Scott Manson also missed the entire race after he failed to make repairs to his R56 Challenge car in time for the start.
Pizza Capers UberStar Innes fought back diligently, after his turn 2 off, to finish the race 10th overall and in the process setting the fourth fastest lap-time for the day.
Tomorrow will see two action-packed MINI Challenge races with the first commencing at 9.05am. It will also see a reverse grid format of the top-7 finishes that puts Kiwi Gavin Yortt in P1 for the morning’s race.
Race 1 Winner Paul Stokell said:“I knew I had to get away to a good start and it was OK, a little bit of wheel spin but it was enough to edge by Sean Carter. It’s not too dirty round that corner so I was able to stick it around the outside of Chris [Alajajian] on the second lap and from there I just kept the head down and had a solid eight laps of racing. The car was absolutely brilliant today, the best I’ve ever felt around Phillip Island in a MINI so a big thanks to the DecoRug team for delivering, yet again, another fantastic car to win in. Reverse grid and 50kg of ballast will make things challenging tomorrow but I’m hoping for some rain which will help me push through the pack.”
Pizza Capers UberStar Driver Craig Innes said:“I came into that first corner following McNiven and we were all a bit ambitious and lost spots coming off the track. Given a better start I think we could have done very well but to finish in the top-10 on my first time out in the car and in the Australian series, I’m relatively happy. It’s encouraging to see that we set the fourth fastest lap time of the day and hopefully this will equate to a better finish in tomorrow’s two races.”
