Round 6

AMRS Roars Back to Winton Motor Raceway

For the second time this year, the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) will travel to Winton Motor Raceway, Victoria for the sixth round, which is to be held on the weekend of August 26 – 27. If it’s a Motorsport feast that you are after then look no further than the AMRS!

A truly mixed bag of Motorsport, the sixth round of the AMRS will feature the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge, the Yokohama Australia Formula 4000 drivers Championship, Production Touring Cars, Thunder Sports, Super TT and 3.3 Litre Holdens.

Winton Motor Raceway hosted the third round of the AMRS back in May – a case of four seasons in one weekend. This time around, competitors are hoping for more predictable weather conditions in order to post a strong result around the 3 km Benalla circuit.

A field of 20 entrants, (including various V8 Supercars, Super Tourers and Future Tourers) makes up the Australian Touring Car Challenge and the driver everyone will be after is current Championship leader Terry Wyhoon (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) who took out the previous round honours in South Australia to extend his lead.

Drivers likely to throw a spanner in the works for Wyhoon include his arch-rival David Krause (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), along with Luke Searle (BMW 320i Super Tourer), Dean Neville (VT Commodore V8 Supercar) and Bryce Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406 Super Tourer).

Not to be discounted are the Future Tourers, with drivers such as father and son duo Ray (VX Commodore) and Shanan Sidebottom (VT Commodore), Andrew Gillespie (AU II XR8 Falcon) and Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon). All of these drivers are aiming to be at the pointy end of the field when it comes to the final crunch. In fact, it should be noted that the Winton round in May was taken out by Future Tourer racer Ray Sidebottom, and more recently Future Tourers filled second and third place behind round winner Wyhoon at Adelaide International Raceway in South Australia.

The Yokohama Australia Formula 4000 Championship battle between Derek Pingel and Ty Hanger is set to resume, as this year the drivers are continually switching positions at the front of the Championship leader board. Both Pingel and Hanger will be looking once again to get an advantage over each other.

Pingel currently leads the Championship narrowly ahead of Hanger, however last start round winner Sam Dale, alongside the likes of Italian Davide Amaduzzi, Ricky Occhipinti and Mark West all thrown into the mix, the potential for a major upset within the Formula 4000 field is likely to be on the cards.

In the Production Touring Cars a number of new drivers have entered the fray recently, namely Bryan Fitzpatrick (Renault Clio Sport – Class A) and Daniel Flanagan (Hyundai Sonata – Class C). At the head of the field, the battle between Luke Searle and Peter Kelly (both 2006 BMW 130) for outright and class honours is likely to continue, but with Class B runners Natalie Willmington (2002 Mitsubishi Magna), George Miedecke (2002 Hyundai Tiburon) and Roland McIntosh (2005 Peugeot) entered, it will not be a walk in the park for Searle and Kelly.

Large and highly competitive fields for Thunder Sports, Super TT and the 3.3 Holdens, complete the AMRS category lineup and ensure that the sixth round at Winton Motor Raceway should not be missed.

Racing on Saturday (August 26) and Sunday (August 27) will commence at 9am.

Saturday entry will be $10 for adults and children 13 and under free. Sunday entry will be $20 for adults and children aged 13 and under are free. Entry to the pit and paddock area is no extra charge, and gives fans the chance to get up close to the race cars and drivers.

Winton Motor Raceway is located on Fox Street, Winton – Victoria.

The official AMRS website can be viewed at: www.amrs.net.au

For further details please contact the Winton Motor Raceway office on 0357 664235 during business hours, or visit their official website: www.WintonRaceway.com.au

The TV coverage from this round is scheduled to air on SBS Speedweek at 12 noon, Sunday 10 September. Check your local guides for further details.

Winton Motor Raceway - the AMRS Juggernaut Continues:

In what was their strongest field of cars for the year so far, the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) last weekend (August 26 – 27) made the trek to Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria for the sixth round, which saw plenty of closely fought racing across all six categories.

Speed off the Streets @ Wakefield Park supported Australian Touring Car Challenge and the Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers’ Championship headed the lineup for the sixth round of the AMRS, which also included Production Touring Cars, Thunder Sports, Super TT and 3.3 Litre Holdens on the billing.

David Krause and Terry Wyhoon continued their battle in the Australian Touring Car Challenge driving their VS Commodore and AU Falcon V8 Supercars, but on this occasion it was Krause that got the upper hand by winning the round ahead of Wyhoon and fellow V8 Supercar driver, Sydney based youngster Brad Lowe (EL Falcon).

Despite not winning the round, Wyhoon still maintains a solid lead in the Championship over Krause. Throughout the weekend both Krause and Wyhoon were the cream of the field with Krause taking out qualifying along with race one and three, whilst Wyhoon scored the winners honours in race two, just ahead of arch rival Krause in a nail biting finish with the first six cars crossing the line within 2 seconds of each other. The best performers in their respective classes were Krause (V8 Supercars), Luke Searle (Super Tourers) and Ray Sidebottom (Future Tourers).

The Yokohama Formula 4000 Drivers’ Championship saw Ty Hanger rocket back into the lead of the Championship standings after he took out the round ahead of Derek Pingel and Sam Dale, who both finished on equal points but on count back Pingel was given second due to a better finishing position in the second race.

Pingel, after topping the time sheets in qualifying, headed the field from pole position in race one (12 laps), but on the second lap a spin saw him hand over the lead to Hanger, who went on to take the victory defeating Sam Dale and OZ Boss competitor Chris Farrell. Pingel finished in fifth. For the second race it was Hanger who romped to victory lane by leading the entire 18-lap distance to down Pingel and Italian driver Davide Amaduzzi. Dale finished back in fourth after suffering suspension problems mid-race whilst running strongly in second.

2006 BMW 130 driver Peter Kelly was the dominant figure in the Production Touring Cars with the class A driver winning two out of the three races. In qualifying teammate and fellow 2006 BMW 130 driver Luke Searle, fresh from his victory the weekend before at Phillip Island Raceway, was the fastest in qualifying and winner of race three.

Aside from the battle at the pointy end of the field, in class B George Miedecke (2002 Hyundai Tiburon) proved too strong for his opposition, and Graham Roylett (2003 Proton Satria GTI) did likewise in class C.

Tom Drewer showed everyone the way in the Thunder Sports aboard his WEST by wining race one and three, and finishing second behind Dennis Holland (Radical Prosport) in race two. Amongst a host of competitive Porsches were the likes of Peter Fitzgerald (Porsche GT3), John Kaias (Porsche GT3 Cup), Paul Whitmarsh (Porsche 993) and Matthew Coleman (Porsche GT3). In the Future Racers Paul Quinn was the pick of the crop.

The Super TT category was mostly dominated by Frank Marchese (Ford Cortina TF) after he was quickest in qualifying, along with winner of race one and two. Garry Stevens (Vauxhall Viva) upset the applecart of Marchese by winning race three after defeating Daniel Schulz (Mitsubishi Evo6) and Marchese.

In the 3.3 Litre Holdens David Astley (Q Class) was at the pointy end of the field all weekend by dominating qualifying along with race one and three, with his only fault being a second place behind Darren Formosa (K Class) in race two.

Calder Park Raceway, Victoria is the venue for the seventh and penultimate round of the AMRS to be held on October 28- 29.

To view the results for this round, please select a category:

For information on other rounds of the Australian Motor Racing Series, please click below:

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