Lamborghini driver Paul Stokell tightened his grip on a second straight Australian Nations Cup Championship after wrapping up round six in his Lamborghini Diablo at Wakefield Park circuit yesterday.
Stokell won two of three hard-fought races and pole position this weekend, building his advantage over key rival, Holden’s Nathan Pretty, to 94 points with two rounds to go
In other events on the PROCAR Champ Series program, Stokell’s teammate in the factory Volkswagen stable Tim Leahey won the most eventful round of the season in the Australian GT Performance Championship and 17-year-old Sydney student Chris Alajajian clinched the 2004 Australian Production Car Champion, driving a Subaru Liberty GT.
The Poolrite V8 BRutes Series turned on spectacular entertainment for the weekend crowd of 9200, with Team Brock Holden driver Damien White winning the round and extending his lead in the drivers’ standings.
Barring a disaster, Stokell now appears uncatchable in the Nations Cup series, which will head to Mallala, South Australia, for the next round on 17-19 September.
He led the first and third races from the start, but spoiled the chance of a clean sweep by running wide into the dirt at turn two on the opening lap of the second race.
Pretty punched his 7.0 litre Holden Monaro into the lead while Stokell had to recover from fourth.
The Lamborghini quickly passed Allan Simonsen in a Ferrari 360 and David Stevens in a Porsche GT2, but Pretty comfortably held Stokell at bay for the final laps.
Meanwhile, James Brock made an extended visit to the pits to replace a power steering pump in his Monaro.
Pretty led the opening lap of race three before surrendering to the 12-cylinder Lamborghini and then had to fight for second place.
James Brock surged past on the sixth of 16 laps, but Pretty got back the position with three laps to go and held on to the flag.
“The Lamborghini felt great all weekend and well suited to this track,” Stokell said.
“We’re down to the pointy end of the season and I was glad to come away today with another good haul of points.”
Three GT Performances races, sponsored by Bizmail Broadand, had the crowd on their toes.
Stokell was a non-starter after a crash in qualifying yesterday that also took out the Mazda RX-7 of Ric Shaw, but Leahey compensated with a strong performance from eighth on the grid.
Garry Holt converted pole position in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 to a comfortable win in race one from series leader Justin Hemmes, in a Subaru Impreza STi.
Steve Knight came third in the Rallart-entered Mitsubishi and Leahey fourth in the all-wheel drive Golf R32.
The opening laps were torrid, with Chris Alajajian (Subaru), Bob Pearson (Mazda), Warren Millet (Holden GTS) and John Falk (Falcon GT) all visiting the pits for running repairs.
Holt set the first of two lap records on lap three, his nimble little Mitsubishi taking almost 0.7 seconds off the three-year old time set by John Bowe in a V8 Ford Mustang.
The biggest clash of the race came on lap 15, when Beric Lynton in a BMW M3 and Bob Hughes in a Mitsubishi collided on the last corner. Both cars launched into the air, Lynton able to continue to the finish but Hughes retiring with front suspension damage.
Holt was out with a broken driveshaft on lap two of race two, which was won by Leahey, followed by Gary Young and Graham Alexander in Mitsubishis.
The big race was mid-field, where Peter Floyd was brilliant behind the wheel of his 400 horsepower Holden Commodore GTS in defence against Alajajian, Hemmes and Barry Morcom (Mitsubishi).
The close four-way battle lasted for many laps with the Holden’s tyres deteriorating rapidly until the left-rear let go and Floyd was out with a lap to go.
Leahey and Young maintained their starting order in race three all the way to the finish, followed by Hemmes.
Holt started from the back of the grid, recovered from a collision with Alajajian on lap four and powered his way spectacularly through the 18-car field to cross the line in third place.
On lap six he lowered the lap record for a second time, but the effort amounted to little when stewards after the race penalised him 30 seconds for the collision with Alajajian, relegating him to 10th in the finishing order.
With Stokell unable to earn any points today to improve his tally in second place, Hemmes opened his lead in the championship to 75 points after starting the weekend only 16 points ahead.
Chris Alajajian, from Sydney’s northern beaches, became the youngest champion in any category under the PROCAR Champ Series when he put the Australian Production Car Championship beyond doubt with two wins today.
The championship still has one round to run, but Alajajian’s current margin of 82 points cannot be sufficiently reduced by the closest challenger Scott Loadsman, who effectively surrendered his 2003 title.
Poolrite V8 BRutes Series leader Damien White in a Team Brock Holden SS, plus Grant Denyer and Marcus Zukanovic in Ford Falcons, each claimed wins today.
White now has 439 points in the eight-round and leads Ford runner Jack Elsegood on 353 points and Dave Griffin (Holden) on 262.
Allan Grice wrote off his Falcon on the first lap of race one, hitting the wall at the corner on to the main straight after a collision with Holden driver Glen Barnes.
TELEVISION SCHEDULE FOR ROUND 6 (Check guides for times)
Nations Cup –Sat. 4 September, Channel Nine; Thu. 9 September, Inside Speed, Fox Sports GT Performance – Sat. 11 September, Channel Nine; Thu. 16 September, Inside Speed, Fox Sports V8 BRutes – Sat. 18 September, Channel Nine; Thu. 23 September, Inside Speed, Fox Sports Production Cars – Sun. 15 August, Speedweek, SBS; Thu. 19/8 Inside Speed, Fox Sports
NEXT ROUND, PROCAR CHAMP SERIES
17-19 September, Mallala, South Australia (Round 7)
RESULTS (Round 6)
Australian Nations Cup ChampionshipOutright/GT class1. Paul Stokell (Vic.) Lamborghini Diablo2. Nathan Pretty (Vic.) Holden Monaro3. James Brock (Vic.) Holden Monaro4. David Stevens (NSW) Porsche GT25. Allan Simonsen (Denmark) Ferrari 360 Challenge6. John Teulan (Qld) Ferrari 360 ChallengeTrophy class1. Allan Simonsen2. John Teulan
Race 2 (16 laps)Outright/GT class1. Nathan Pretty2. Paul Stokell3. David Stevens4. Allan Simonsen5. Anthony Skinner (NSW) Porsche GT36. Ian Palmer (Qld) Brabham Honda NSX TurboTrophy class1. Allan Simonsen
Race 3 (16 laps)Outright/GT class1. Paul Stokell2. Nathan Pretty3. James Brock4. David Stevens5. Ian Palmer6. Allan SimonsenTrophy class1. Allan Simonsen2. John Teulan
Championship standings: GT class/Outright 509 Paul Stokell, 415 Nathan Pretty, 247 David Stevens, 160 James Brock, 156 Peter Brock, 141 Ian Palmer. Trophy class 291 Theo Koundouris, 266 James Koundouris, 240 John Teulan.
Australian GT Performance ChampionshipRace 1 (16 laps)1. Garry Holt (NSW) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 82. Justin Hemmes (NSW) Subaru Impreza STi3. Steve Knight (SA) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 4. Tim Leahey (NSW) Volkswagen Golf R325. Gary Young (Vic.) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 86. Mark King (Qld) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8
Race 2 (16 laps)1. Tim Leahey2. Gary Young3. Graham Alexander (Vic.) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 74. Chris Alajajian (NSW) Subaru Impreza STi5. Justin Hemmes6. Barry Morcom (NSW) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8
Race 3 (16 laps)1. Tim Leahey2. Gary Young3. Justin Hemmes4. Graham Alexander5. Barry Morcom6. Beric Lynton (Qld) BMW M3
Championship standings: 379 Justin Hemmes, 304 Paul Stokell, 270 Ric Shaw, 237 Garry Holt, 217 Steve Knight, 216 Beric Lynton.
Poolrite V8 BRutes SeriesRace 1 (16 laps)1. Damien White (NSW) Holden SS2. Benn Wilson (Qld) Holden3. Gary Baxter (SA) Holden4. Marcus Zukanovic (Vic.) Ford Falcon XR85. Charlie Kovacs (SA) Holden6. Grant Denyer (NSW) Ford
Race 2 (16 laps)1. Grant Denyer2. Glen Barnes (Vic.) Holden3. Marcus Zukanovic4. Jack Elsegood (NSW) Ford5. Luke May (NSW) Ford6. Charlie Kovacs
Race 3 (16 laps)1. Marcus Zukanovic2. Damien White3. Grant Denyer4. Benn Wilson5. Glen Barnes6. Luke May
Championship standings: 439 Damien White, 353 Jack Elsegood, 262 Dave Griffin, 240 Gary Baxter, 221 Charlie Kovacs, 215 Kim Jane.
Australian Production Car ChampionshipRace 1 (16 laps)Outright1. Chris Alajajian (NSW) Subaru Liberty GT2. David Russell (NSW) Proton Satria GTi3. David Ryan (NSW) Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo 4. Scott Loadsman (NSW) Holden Commodore SS5. Ian Luff (NSW) Honda Integra Type R6. Leanne Ferrier (Vic.) Toyota Corolla SportivoClass A – Chris AlajajianClass B – Ian LuffClass C – Leanne FerrierClass D – David Russell
Race 2 (16 laps)1. Chris Alajajian2. David Russell3. Ian Luff4. David Ryan5. Scott Loadsman6. Martin Doxey (Vic.) Holden Astra SRi
Championship standings: Outright, 304 Chris Alajajian, 222 Scott Loadsman, 219 David Russell, 203 Leanne Ferrier, 165 David Ratcliff, 158 Ian Luff. Class A 356 Chris Alajajian, Class B 263 Ian Luff, Class C 315 Leanne Ferrier, Class D 285 David Russell.
