The Holden Australia 250 at the Calder Park Thunderdome was held under the lights in Melbourne, with Felipe Cesar and home hero Nick Addison on the front row of the rolling grid. As the field got underway, part time Signature driver Alexander McLaughlin made a very aggressive start, swerving wildly to get position on the track – a tactic that somehow ended with the New Zealander making up a position past Mikko Heininen for 7th rather than crashing in front of the entire field. If McLaughlin’s start was manic, then Brock Kidd’s was textbook. From the outside of row three, he fought his way up the order, ending up in third place after only twenty laps. One of Rossendo Werner’s most “impressive” performances of the season literally went up in smoke when the Italian’s Chevrolet engine expired, removing him from 20th position.
On lap 50, Felipe Cesar’s title bid took a huge hit, as did his car. While overtaking the lapped Callum Brandon, the Brazilian ran high in turn 2, clattering the wall. Both right-hand corners of the car were destroyed and Cesar was out of the race. The safety car was scrambled, with the field driving down on the apron through turn 2 to avoid the debris strewn over the track. On lap 69, the race was restarted. Addison got the field back underway, but Kidd’s restart was imperious – the American held on to Addison’s slipstream and reeled him in, passing high into turn 1 and taking the lead brilliantly. Luke Stokey’s car momentarily lost power on lap 80, dropping him behind Enzo Domenicalli, but the American Engineering car seemed to be back on the pace only seconds later. However, on lap 128, the Brit’s car once again slowed dramatically, and this time it was terminal, with the Chevrolet engine expiring in spectacular fashion as he pulled into the pitlane. On lap 131, Yakumi Takahashi’s mediocre race took a turn for the better – from 10th, he overtook Keith Murphy and Will Taylor on consecutive laps to progress up the field, and his pace was more than good enough to overhaul McLaughlin, Aron Einarsson and Enzo Domenicalli ahead. Drake Davies and Mikko Heininen were fighting hard over 11th position when on lap 147, the Bahamian made one move too many, collecting the rear left wheel of Heininen’s car. The resulting accident meant both drivers hit the wall hard, and this time the race was red flagged to clear up both cars. The pause in hostilities didn’t mean the drama was over though – a second title contender’s race ended in disaster as Marcus Thunder pulled onto pit road with the rest of the field. His Formation team were frantically inspecting the rear of the car, and as the five minute signal was called to resume the race, the Monegasque team were forced to remove Thunder’s car from the pack, wheeling it behind the wall back to the garage. The race was resumed on lap 151 as the field were given four laps behind the safety car to see the state of the track after the oil dropped by Heininen’s car was dressed. Kidd was pushing hard to get away, but Addison stayed with him all the way. Domenicalli dropped back, while Einarsson was even slower – McLaughlin and Takahashi were fighting to be the first to get past the Icelander, when on lap 183 the New Zealander’s Chevrolet engine became the third from the American manufacturer to cry enough, ending an impressive run ahead of his full season next year. Einarsson continued to drop, with Takahashi then Taylor overtaking him in quick succession. On lap 211 of 223, Kidd’s pace levelled off, while Addison continued to press hard to force his way through. In front of his home crowd, he dived down the inside into turn one, taking the lead in spectacular fashion. Kidd’s car seemed to have used the last of its tyres but he impressively hung on to Addison, the home hero only winning by 1.1 seconds from the American. Enzo Domenicalli finished a few seconds back in third, while Takahashi’s late pace meant he took fourth ahead of Will Taylor and Aron Einarsson. See below for full race classification and championship standings:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2018
Categories |