SIXTEEN-year-old Alex Gardner has scored a resounding victory in the first 50-minute race of round one of the Workhorse Radical Cup Australia at Sydney Motorsport Park, as part of the Shannons Trophy Series.
Racing with the Volante Rosso Motorsport team, the Ferrari Academy youngster snatched the lead at the start and apart from the mandatory 55-second pitstop which everyone had to do, led throughout for his first Radical win.
“It was really good to get Bart (Mawer) at the first corner and then I concentrated on my pace from there,” Gardner said.
Second place and nine seconds adrift was Garth Walden Racing’s Chris Perini. “I had a ripper launch and was able to squeeze between Peter Paddon and Elliott Schutte to be third. In the end I tried to get away from Peter which I did, and keep with Alex but couldn’t,” he said.
The grid was jumbled from qualifying due to the nominated start driver having to go off their qualifying time.
Perini’s teammate Padden finished in third spot ahead of Arise Racing’s Schutte. Team BRM with Mark Rosser and Joey Mawson were affected by the grid change with Rosser starting 14th rather than second. Mawson took over for the second stint to finish fifth.
The Arise cars of Zig Fuhrmeister and Cooper Cutts were the next two, the latter recovering from an early spin after turn two. In eighth was Nick Kelly from Jordan Oon and Zara Horn who started 16th. Volante Rosso’s Peter Clare and Josh Hunt finished tenth with Brad Russell and Andrew Eldridge the next two.
Pole sitter Mawer held second until the pitstop where he handed to Terry Knowles.
“Alex got me off the start and when Terry took over, he had a spin which is all a part of the learning curve for him,” Mawer said.
They finished 13th and ahead of Glen Kenny/Melinda Price, Sue Hughes, Jim Hernandez and Warwick Churche. Simon Arthur was a late retirement while Ash Samadi went out much earlier.