WHAT WAS AN incredibly close championship battle going all the way down to the final race has come to a spectacular conclusion, with Peter Paddon claiming the 2024 First Focus Radical Cup Australia series title, while Cooper Cutts took out the round honours today at Mount Panorama.
With just a handful of points between the two coming into the final race, Paddon only needed to finish fifth or better if Cutts were to win the race to clinch the series title.
The First Focus GWR Australia driver and Arise Racing-backed youngster had been in close contention all year, putting everything on the line to bring the series to a head in the final race of the year.
Cutts would indeed win race two, however, a fourth place-finish for Paddon in Sunday’s race was more than enough to seal the deal for the #31 First Focus driver with a final margin of only 10 points between the two.
Sweeping the weekend during his first outing at Mount Panorama, Cutts claimed the round win, ahead of Bryce Moore/Chris Reindler and Paddon in second and third.
Cutts got the jump off the line, but Hunt swept across and took the lead coming into the first corner, relegating Cutts back to second with Paddon just behind as the field took its first run up the mountain.
The three front runners settled into a rhythm, setting a decent margin back to Justin Tigani and Bart Mawer in fourth and fifth before Warwick Morris found himself in the gravel, triggering an early Safety Car intervention.
Hunt led the field at the restart, ahead of Cutts and Paddon and with the mandatory pit stop window open Hunt, Paddon, and Mawer all dove in early, with Cutts opting to stay out for another lap to take advantage of the clean air.
As the field cycled through their stops, Cutts emerged from pit lane as the race leader. With all stops complete and driver changes complete, Paddon was running in third, with Cutts nine seconds clear.
However, the Safety Car would be deployed once again, resetting the field for a second time to recover the #60 of Andrew Eldridge, who found himself in the gravel at Murray’s Corner.
The Safety Car lights went out with nine and a half minutes to go, setting up a sprint race to the finish. Cutts set an early gap on Tigani back in second, who put in a massive effort after not finishing Saturday’s race.
Paddon, needing to finish in the top five, set to work creating a buffer back to Moore in fourth. Biding his time, Moore put a successful move on Paddon as they crossed the line for the final time, swapping places with the championship winner to finish the race in third and fourth, respectively. Mark Brame finished in fifth.
Terry Knowles crossed the line in sixth, ahead of Brad Russell in seventh, Peter Clare in eighth, Ash Samadi in ninth, and Greg Kenny rounding out the top ten.
With just moments left on the clock, Shuan Hannah connected with Eldridge at Hell Corner, leaving both entries unable to finish the race. Earlier in the race, the #45 of Brett Holdsworth and Colin Ivory entered pit lane out of sequence with a brake issue, putting an end to their day.