September 8, 2015 | General

MIEDECKE: ‘READY FOR THE FIGHT’

A ‘character-building’ weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park has Andrew Miedecke involved in a close three-way fight for the ENZED Touring Car Masters Series ahead of the final two rounds of 2015.

Racing at Sydney’s popular Muscle Car Masters event Miedecke has found positives from an otherwise rough weekend for the Lubrimaxx Chevy Camaro in the sixth round of the Touring Car Masters – having entered the weekend as the series leader and leaving it trailing by 10 points.

Miedecke struggled with the performance of the car for much of the weekend before a race-three setup change unlocked speed and delivered positives from an otherwise challenging trip.

“Yes we’re behind on points now but at least with the information we found on Sunday afternoon we know we’re going to be competitive for the rest of the year.. and I don’t mind a fight!†he said.

Having qualified his Whiteline Racing Camaro fourth – he was bumped from the front row in the closing stages of qualifying by Eddie Abelnica and Glenn Seton – Miedecke made a fast start to race one and was on track to improve his position before the field got to the challenging turn two hairpin.

There contact with Glenn Seton spun his Camaro around and dropped him to the back of the field before a concerted charge saw him rebound to 10^th place by the end of the eight laps. 

A solid ninth saw Miedecke consolidate his position in race two however being buried in the middle of the pack opened up the potential for drama in the weekend’s finale – a fate that ultimately came true.

Once again turn two was the culprit this time Miedecke caught in someone else’s accident as the field concertinaed together in the heavy braking zone.

Forced to pit to change a damaged tyre and repair damage the Whiteline team were able to return the No. 95 Camaro to the track in time to ensure that it could be classified a finisher and score valuable points.

Setting the third-fastest lap time also showed that the speed was back in the black beast.

“It really was tough and we didn’t have any pace to start with†the driver explained.

“I couldn’t get the car to put the power to road and we changed everything in the car over the weekend. Finally just before race three we made one more change which really was quite significant but it fixed it and we got caught up in an accident and a concertina crash that there was nothing I could do to avoid.

“Paul Freestone in front of me braked and I couldn’t stop. I had to pit and change a tyre – but after that the car was really good.â€Â

Having battled to make the car quicker throughout the course of the weekend Miedecke now believes that the progress made might actually help their cause across the remaining two rounds of the Touring Car Masters series – at Bathurst and Phillip Island respectively.

Miedecke (801 points) trails new series leader Jim Richards by 10 points and holds a narrow 27-marker advantage over the dominant John Bowe.

“I’m hoping that we can make the car faster than it’s been at any time this year with what we’ve learned here†he explained.

“I’m looking forward to it. John Bowe will be fast I think that Torana is the best package in the field and I think he’ll be hard to beat but we always go well there. Jim will be his usual consistent-self there too and is always a factor.

“It’ll be on between John and I and Jim will be accumulating points!â€Â

Also in Sydney Andrew was invited to be part of a four-strong panel at the annual Muscle Car Masters ‘legends dinner’ held on the Saturday evening.

There he joined period rivals Glenn Seton Charlie O’Brien and Tony Longhurst to exchange anecdotes from their successful careers and the 25-year history of the Eastern Creek venue. 

Just prior to the round Andrew tested his new Aston Martin Vantage GT3 at Queensland Raceway ahead of his debut in the Australian GT Championship this weekend at Sandown.

Running for the newly-formed Ross Stone Racing Miedecke was pleased with the initial test in the exotic GT car and is looking forward to joining the 30-strong GT grid this weekend.

He also plans to contest the longer-distance GT races on the program with son V8 Ute and Supercars racer George in the future.

(Via Team Media Release)