A RECORD grid highlights the return to competition of the First Focus Radical Cup Australia Series this weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Following a lengthy mid-season break, a 24-strong grid will front as the championship race heads up ahead of the final two New South Wales-based rounds – this first this weekend to be followed by a grand finale’ on the Mountain next month.
The 24 car field is the largest since one-make Radical competition returned under its current format in 2022 and represents the fifth time in 13 rounds the category has drawn 20 or more cars.
The race is on as the field chases series leader Peter Paddon, who has a solid series lead following round wins in two of the first three rounds this year.
Paddon won at Phillip Island and in the West at carco.com.au Raceway in Perth and then finished runner-up to Shell V-Power Motorsport Park winner Cooper Cutts – his nearest challenger – at The Bend to continue to maintain his series lead.
As a result, the GWR Australia / First Focus driver leads the standings by 55 points heading into the Sydney round this weekend.
Cutts, however, will take confidence into the Sydney event despite his Arise Racing entry being far from home turf and on the home circuit of arch-rivals GWR.
The young West Aussie star claimed his first race and overall round wins in Radical competition in the 2023 season finale’ at the same venue.
Sydney is a hotbed of Sports Prototype-style racing with both GWR, Volante Rosso and Geoff Forshaw Motorsport all based in the New South Wales capital.
The result is a host of local talent joining the fun with plenty of local knowledge set to mix things up within the national series pecking order.
Tigani Motorsport’s Justin Tigani, Mark Brame, Nick Kelly and debutant Shaun Hannah will all add to the mix this weekend.
Former Australian F3 champion Jon Collins also makes a welcome return, stepping aboard the same GWR SR3 entry he piloted in Perth earlier this year.
He joins his Mum, Sue Hughes, on the grid again with the latter sporting an impressive new livery this weekend.
The First Focus Radical Cup Australia Series switches to sprint racing mode this weekend with a series of four, 25-minute sprint races to decide Round 4 of the series.
It’s just the second time in series history that the four-race format has been used – the last time at Sydney Motorsport Park in 2023 it delivered three different winners from the four races and plenty of competitive action.
Despite the shorter format, the usual four combinations will continue to field two drivers; Josh Hunt to steer with Peter Clare and teammates Melinda Price and Greg Kenny.
Chris Reindler and Bryce Moore will share their #28 Arise entry while Barton Mawer and Terry Knowles will look to back up their immense weekend in South Australia with another strong performance on home turf this weekend.
All classes will be tightly battled this weekend, including the Hero Hoists Pro-Am Cup.
Brad Russell leads the way in Radical Masters, however only has a narrow 11-point lead over closest rivals Greg Kenny and Melinda Price, who combine again this weekend in their Volante Rosso entry.
Chris Reindler and Bryce Moore have a healthy lead in the Radical Rookie standings while GWR Australia and Arise Racing remain locked together on 513 points apiece in the Teams Championship battle – a source of paddock bragging rights.
Action gets underway on Friday with official practice ahead of Qualifying and Racing on Saturday and Sunday.
Race 2 (Saturday, 3:30pm) and Race 4 (Sunday, 14:45pm) will both be shown live on 7mate this weekend, while Race 2 (Sunday, 10:35am) will be streamed live and free on 7 plus sport.