Peter Clare and Josh Hunt won the final race for Radical Australia Cup at The Bend Motorsport Park, under heavy rain conditions.
Meanwhile, Chris Perini was crowned national champion following a consistent weekend that ensured he did enough to seal the 2022 title.
Heavy rain covered The Bend Motorsport Park for the final race of the 2022 Radical Australia Cup.
The race started under safety car conditions due to the heavy amount of rain and stationary water on the track. After several Laps under safety car, racing began and the cars thundered into turn one, but got through scratch free.
Pole sitter Elliott Schutte led the pack into the opening stages of the race, however after a fast paced spin on the grass, the Peter Paddon / Peter Carr entry was able to make its way past and into the lead.
Schutte re-joined in second position, however it was short lived as he had another spin on the grass two laps later. This put him down into third position before the pit stops.
Multiple cars found their way onto the grass throughout the duration of the race, due to the unforgiving rainy conditions. Andrew Eldridge found himself in the mud mid-way through the race, but re-joined in 14th position.
After the pitstops, Schutte was able to put a move on Peter Carr after a drag race down the straight, putting him back into first position.
Caleb Sumich, confident in the wet conditions, was then able to make his way past the number 8 of Schutte to gain first position.
The number 35 of Jordan Oon found itself buried in the gravel trap at turn 1, Causing a mid-race safety car. Detrimentally to the championship, just under the deployment of the safety car, the championship contending entry of Peter Carr found itself off in the grass, ultimately ending their race with a DNF.
During the safety car, Paddon said; “Its pretty hectic, you can’t see the rivers or the corners. There is so much water, you can’t see the water.”
Under the release of the safety car, Sumich found himself in first position, followed by Schutte and Zig Fuhrmeister.
The drag race down to turn one was close and under braking Mark Rosser lost control of the car and aquaplaned into the gravel trap, merely avoiding third place sitter Fuhrmeister in the process.
On the final lap, Schutte lost control and found himself in the gravel trap, leaving Sumich to cross the line first.
However, he was later was given a 5-second penalty for a starting grid infringement, meaning Peter Clare and Josh Hunt came home with the race win.
“It really bucketed down the whole race, the visibility was really poor,” Clare detailed.
“Started with a new car this year, took a while to bed it in, so it hasn’t been my best year. Certainly, towards the end of the year it started to look a lot better, so I’m hoping for a better year next year.”
Sumich still did enough to win the round overall, ahead of Zig Fuhrmeister and Peter Clare / Josh Hunt third.
With the final standings, Chris Perini took the Radical Australia Cup championship. “The whole year was topsy-turvy; the whole competition is just extreme” Perini said.
“There were some lows back in Perth where some results just got away from us, no fault of anyone. But the rest of the year just blossomed.
“To say the least, a wins’- a win, but it was a bit more adventurous in these conditions, but to come out on top is sweet.”