Touring Car Challenge Results Round 8

ATCC Finale - Lowe Saves Best for Last

Displaying both his maturity and consistency, youngster Brad Lowe captured victory in the eighth and final round of the ‘Speed off the Streets @ Wakefield Park’ supported Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) event last weekend (November 25 – 26).

Driving the # 25 Garry Willmington owned EL V8 Supercar, Lowe took out a comprehensive round victory – the very first of his career – by finishing each of his three races inside the top five. After a below par qualifying and opening race result of fifth, Lowe picked up the slack to shine through in race two and three (under the handicap format) to close out the round by placing second before securing the final victory.

ATCC Championship front runners Terry Wyhoon (# 99 AU Falcon V8 Supercar) and David Krause (# 79 VS Commodore V8 Supercar), endured tough weekends after the pair finished first and second in the opening race, but didn’t register finishes inside the top three in either race two or three. However, Wyhoon did enough, placing third overall for the round, which enabled him to secure the ATCC Championship for 2006.

Wyhoon, with one hand on the ATCC Championship trophy, kicked off the weekend in splendid fashion by recording the fastest lap (1:01.3825) in qualifying which earnt him the right to start the opening race from pole position. Behind Wyhoon in the session was Krause, followed by Dean Neville (# 69 VT Commodore V8 Supercar), the inaugural (2004) ATCC champion Luke Searle (# 30 BMW 320i Super Tourer) and trailing in fifth was Lowe. Mark Telfer (# 7 VX Commodore Future Tourer) was the best of his category in tenth.

Continuing his dominant start to the round, Wyhoon achieved an all the way victory in the opening race (5 lap scratch race format) to comfortably defeat Krause and Neville to the chequered flag. Searle finished in fourth place ahead of Lowe, followed by John Vergotis (# 26 AU Falcon V8 Supercar), Bruce Oaklands (# 8 VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Amin Chahda (# 18 GT BA Falcon Future Tourer), Shelton Loughrey (# 43 EL Falcon V8 Supercar), and Telfer in tenth. After qualifying seventh, Loughrey dropped back at the start to 14 th after being forced to start from pitlane, before fighting his way back to finish ninth.

Mr. Gulf Western Oil, Peter Vicary (# 5 AU Falcon V8 Supercar), headed the field in the second race (handicapped format) from the outset until the seventh lap where Loughrey moved into command to take a solid win over a hard charging Lowe and Oaklands who placed second and third respectively. It looked as though Vicary would finish inside the top three, only to have his hopes dashed when he became involved with a spinning car forcing him to lose his position and finish in fifth behind Chahda. Following Chahda and Vicary across the finish line was Wyhoon, Telfer, Philip Groeneveld (# 23 VS Commodore Future Tourer), Andrew Gillespie (# 9 AU XR8 II Falcon Future Tourer) and Vergotis in tenth. One driver that failed to finish in the top ten was Krause, who spun out on the opening lap and was unable to recover, crossing the line in 12 th. Super Tourer runners Searle and Neil Byers’ (# 34 Nissan Primera) promising runs were ended my mechanical woes, with both failing to finish. For Searle he suffered engine failure and took no further part in the weekend, despite his team swapping engines so that he could compete in the AMRS 500.

In the third and final race of the weekend there was action aplenty, but it was Lowe who emerged victorious ahead of Neville and Groeneveld, while the likes of Wyhoon, Krause, Oaklands, and Chahda were in the wars throughout the 12 lap event.

As was the case in the second race, it was Vicary that headed the pack and held down the front running position for the opening seven laps before Byers snatched the lead. Byers’ time in the lead lasted only a single lap before Chahda pushed him back into second. Once again, the lead changed a lap later when Krause took control of the race. A spin on the final lap by Krause saw him hand the lead over to Lowe, who never relented, capping off his maiden ATCC Championship round win.

Outside the top three was Gillespie in fourth, followed by Vergotis, Loughrey, Wyhoon, Vicary, Chahda, and Oaklands in tenth. Krause finished well down the order in 12 th place. The only non finisher of the third race was newcomer Tim McMurray, driving the # 3 Matthew Hunt owned VS Commodore V8 Supercar. McMurray sustained significant left hand side damage whilst trying to avoid contact with a spinning car on the ninth lap. McMurray qualified ninth, finished 13 th in race one and failed to start the second race due to breaking a centre bearing in the differential.

In a drama filled third race, a collision between Future Tourer front runners Gillespie and Chahda resulted in the latter coming off second best and finishing back in ninth. Oaklands and Wyhoon made unwelcome contact during the race and neither driver was pleased with the other as both imprinted each other’s colour scheme on their respective cars.

At the completion of the final ATCC round for the year Lowe took victory ahead of Loughrey and Wyhoon. Class wins were shared between Lowe (V8 Supercars), Byers (Super Tourers) and Chahda (Future Tourers).

© AMRS 2005