TINY MARGINS have highlighted a compelling first day of action as the Workhorse Radical Cup Australia Series arrived at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park (The Bend) in South Australia.
Three 20-minute practice sessions today have done nothing to clarify the pecking order as the series enters a critical round in the title chase – just two races here and an event at Sydney Motorsport Park to follow.
Volante Rosso’s teenage star Alex Gardner topped the leaderboard today, his 1m51.0250s best the quickest of all across the three sessions.
Gardner topped the day by just 0.032s, with Cooper Cutts’ 1m51.0573s that topped the third practice session of the day just missing out on being quickest overall.
With Gardner quickest in practice one and Cutts in practice three, it was title contender Elliott Schutte who put the full stop on the day by topping practice two aboard his Arise Racing entry, and ending the day third quickest overall.
The top three on combined times were separated by just 0.11 seconds with little to pick between them.
Adam Lisle and Jordan Oon combined to place their Arise Racing entry fourth, with defending champion Chris Perini fifth on his comeback drive.
The top five were covered by 0.35 seconds showcasing how competitive the grid is this weekend.
Peter Clare and Josh Hunt were sixth, Zig Fuhrmeister seventh and Terry Knowles – driving solo this weekend – in eighth.
Simon Arthur and local Mark Rosser rounded out the top 10, the top nine covered by exactly one second.
Greg Kenny & Melinda Price were eleventh, Brad Russell twelfth, with Nick Kelly, Michael Whiting and Adam Naccarata next.
James Hernandez, Sue Hughes and Warwick Churche completed the runners.
With practice now complete, attention turns to qualifying tomorrow morning and then the first of two races to be contested this weekend.
Sunday’s second race will be broadcast live on 7+ this weekend, while live timing on Saturday will allow fans to follow the action from home.
Meanwhile, access to the Shannons Trophy Series event this weekend is free of charge to all local spectators.