Round 5 of the Australian MINI Challenge was held at Phillip Island back in mid-September. Race 1 was covered live, while this highlights package shows snippets from the first two races, before showing Race 3 in full. There’s also a good mid-season re-cap at the start of the broadcast that includes interviews with a lot of the drivers.
Robbie Maddison was the über-star car driver, and you can almost see his improvement by the lap. He made a great showing, taking it right up to series leader Paul Stokell for most of the final race.
Overall this was one of the most entertaining MINI Challenge rounds to date, with close racing throughout the field. Nathan Caratti managed a clean sweep of all three races, but, again, suffered at the hands of officialdom with a query remaining over his results. Sadly, for Paul Stokell he had a dreadful weekend, he failed to finish the first two races and then limped over the line in ninth place in Race 3. He still maintained his series lead, but the margin back to his rivals has been drastically reduced.
The footage is split over two clips and you can catch the second clip, along with the series leaderboard after the jump.
TOP TEN CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
- Paul Stokell DecoRug Racing – 603
- Grant Denyer DecoRug Racing – 564
- Scott Bargwanna ROCK Energy Drinks – 492
- Nathan Caratti Glory Team Racing – 447
- Chris Alajajian Standox Paints – 423
- BJ Cook ROCK Energy Drinks – 253.5
- John Modystach Prosurve – 238.5
- Beric Lynton Bruce Lynton MINI Garage – 211.5
- Geoff Emery Stillwell MINI Garage – 168
- Brendan Cook Motorline MINI Garage – 141
4 replies on “MINI CHALLENGE 2009 – Round 5 TV highlights”
Caratti was investigated for having a seemingly premeditated hole in his cat ! His car was way faster, louder & spitting flames, in all 3 races.
Thanks mate. Do you know if there has been a decision made on the investigation?
Not yet. He’s been frowned upon by series management after his previous infraction, which he tries to explain (defend himself) in the 1st of the 2 vids you posted…he’s a bit of a naughty boy.
Yeah, I figured there was more to his explanation on the brakes than meets the eye. His version seems so innocent that it makes the decision to strip him of points seem laughable, so you would think there has to be more to it than first appears.
Seems odd that no decision has been made on the Phillip Island results.