2014 Bathurst round winner, Rhys McNally, will return after taking a one round sabbatical to try and secure his second Bathurst win when he hits the track for Round 5 of the 2015 East Coast Bullbars Australian V8 Ute Racing Series at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, Mount Panorama 8 – 11 October.
The West Aussie was the fastest on track when he last raced at Townsville in July, taking out the ARMOR ALL Pole Award, however missed Round 5 at Sandown Raceway due to work commitments, but is looking forward to hitting the track again.
“After crashing out in Townsville it was disappointing, we should have had a one two finish there. Winning Bathurst last year was awesome, I’m not too worried about the championship now after missing Sandown so I’m going to push hard to win the round again and get back on the Bathurst podium,” explained McNally.
McNally will join teammates David Sieders, Jeremy Gray and Bruce Oaklands in the Sieders Racing camp. David Sieders won his second ARMOR ALL Pole Award at the eventlast year, after it was stripped from lap record holder Kris Walton for a parc ferme breach.
The Blue Mountains based steerer is currently running third in the ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship, one point ahead of Walton and will carry an extra 20kg next weekend due to the success ballast rule.
Series leader Ryal Harris will also continue to carry an extra 40kg, and will be looking to further his lead and claim his first Bathurst Podium since 2012. The Gold Coaster had a near clean-sweep in both 2011 and 2012, claiming the Pole Award and two race wins, and going on to win back-to-back V8 Ute titles.
“I’m just playing the points game at the moment, which is all you can do when you’re carrying extra weight. Last year we should have won easily, but because I was driving the V8 Supercar in the Development Series race as well I just couldn’t pull it together. I’ll be solely focused on the Ute next weekend; I’ll be fast across the top and quick down the hill but just not up the hill. I’m just going to focus on finishing every race and bring it home, hopefully,” said Harris.
Adam Marjoram remains in second for the Series and will also feel the weight up Mountain Straight with his extra 30kg; Marjoram has a brand new Cragsted engine in his Auto One Holden, and will be hoping for a good result at the mountain.
Gerard McLeod will be one to watch out for this weekend, after securing his first Round win at Sandown earlier in the month. The Victorian wasn’t able to complete a race at last year’s Bathurst event after hitting the wall in race 1, forcing his retirement for the weekend.
See below top five standings in the ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship1) Ryal Harris 6892) Adam Marjoram 6383) David Sieders 6124) Kris Walton 6115) Gerard McLeod 601
