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6 HOUR CHAMPIONS KICKSTART 2020 WITH SYDNEY WIN
DEFENDING Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour champions Beric Lynton and Tim Leahey have won the opening round of the 2020 MRF Tyres Australian Production Cars series, surviving changable weather at Sydney Motorsport Park to complete a positive pre-6 hour warm-up. Taking out the outright and Class A1 round victory today were Beric Lynton and Tim Leahey in the #23 Bruce Lynton BM Service BMW M3, while class round victories went to John Carter and Brock Mitchell (#7 Happy Days Racing Holden Commodore – AM), Dimitri Agathos (#66 FullGas Racing/Nova Employment Subaru WRX – B1), Cem Yucel and Iain Salteri (#40 Harding Performance Volkswagen Golf – Class C1) and James Keene and Richard Luff (#51 MWM Racing Mini – Class D).
Despite not competing on Sunday, Coleby Cowham and Lindsay Kearns (#25 CK Motorsport Ford Mustang) secured the A2 round win thanks to their Saturday race results.
Very wet weather for Sunday morning’s race saw it start under safety car conditions for the opening laps. When things got underway, it was Agathos, Yucel and Keene who really excelled, with the B1, C1 and D class entrants locking out the outright race podium. Fourth outright and the first for the A-class cars was Lynton, while his fellow A1 competitor Duane West rounded out the top five in the DWE Motorsport HSV. Carter and Mitchell won Class AM from 8th outright.
In the afternoon, much drier yet still slippery conditions greeted the APC field as it was accompanied by the NSW Production Touring Cars for the final of the four one-hour races. Agathos, the winner of races one and three, sadly was forced to retire just after the 20 minute mark with a right hand rear suspension failure in his Subaru, while Tim Leahey in the A1 BMW M3 took advantage of the better conditions to dominate the race outright ahead of Iain Salteri in the #40 (C1 winner), Shane Smollen in the #56 Bruce Lynton BM Service BMW, David Krusza in the #89 Pinnacle Automotive 1994 BMW E36 M3 and West in his HSV.
The #7 entry of Carter and Mitchell took the win for the AM class from 7th outright, one behind Grant Sherrin in the #1 Sherrin Rentals BMW M4 which has been plagued by limp mode issues all weekend.Eighth outright was the David Ayres driven #19 Sherrin Equipment BMW 135i which also took out the Class B1 victory, while D class and 9th outright went to Richard Luff in the Mini.NSW Production Touring Cars had two races on Sunday, and while the second was held in conjunction with the APC competitors, the first was a standalone race for their category only.In the first race, McIntosh lead the way for the NSW competitors overall and in class B1 in the #87 German Performance Garage/APRVW Golf).
Also taking out class wins in the NSW standings were Alex Bryden (A1 – #45 RAM Motorsport Mercedes A45), Garth Walden (A2 – #6 Quest Apartment Hotels BMW M3), Scott Sullivan (#189 Elizabeth James Holden Commodore), John Fitzgerald (C – #140 On Track Motorsport BMW 130i) and Zach Loscialpo (#212 Toyota 86)In the second race, Stephen Thompson took out the outright and class A1 honours in the #92 Allworth Homes Mitsubishi Evo 10, while Holt, McIntosh, D’Aquino and Loscialpo went back-to-back with class wins in A2, B1, B2 and D respectively. There was no finisher for class C.