Our first round back after the break is in the books, as Chaz Mostert and Bryce Fullwood completed two 32-lap, 125km races on Sunday at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Qualifying
Two back-to-back 15-minute qualifying sessions set the grid for the two races in the afternoon. The limited time and tyre-bank meant they were both a one-lap dash.
In the first session, Chaz put in a time good enough for P7, while Bryce was P15.
Before you could blink cars were back out on-track. Bryce found a bit more grip on from the Dunlop tyres, moving up to P10 with his lap, but Chaz struggled to turn the tyre on, resulting in a lap that put him in P15 on the grid.
Race 8
Chaz 4th, Bryce 20th
One of the races of the year to date, saw Chaz end up in a four-way battle for the final step of the podium. He traded blows with Waters, McLaughlin and Reynolds across the final 10-laps, finishing just off the podium to collect his second fourth place finish of the weekend.
With the limited tyre bank, Bryce had to take some pain in this one, with an eye on Race 9. He started on a very used set of tyres, before stopping early and holding on in the final stages.
Race 9
Bryce 10th, Chaz 16th
Bryce recorded his first Top-10 finish as a main-game driver in just his fifth race start, which is a fantastic feat in a strong field.
Car No. 2 opted for the long game, stopping on lap 18 of 32 and letting Bryce go to work late on fresh tyres. He moved from 19th to 10th in the closing stages, right on the back of four more cars.
For Chaz, with a limited tyre bank in the last, he had to battle from the middle of the grid. He did a good job to fight with what he had, even after being pushed off the road in the opening laps.
Importantly, he leaves the weekend third in the championship.
Bryce Fullwood
“Really good finish to the day for me. We had to choose a race where it would hurt a little bit tyre wise, so that was the first race of the day for us, and it definitely did hurt.
“We had decent tyres in the last one and managed to come home 10th which was really good. If someone had said to me you will come 10th going into this event I probably would have told them they were kidding.
“In saying that, we’ve still got some things to work on with the car, some things at the workshop we want to look at, which is good, because we’ve got areas we want to improve on.
“Hope you all enjoyed watching from home, and we can’t wait to see you at the track soon!”
Chaz Mostert
“We struggled a little bit in qualifying today, but it was great to get another top-four finish in that first race today.
“We spent all our tyres so only had one set for the final race, so unfortunately we just had to hold on for that one.
“Overall, a good weekend, great to be back racing, and some areas where we have some work to do. I think we finished sixth in the weekend points, so a solid haul of points, we will be chasing those front three guys hard, and I’m looking forward to the next event.”