Thanks to AUSmotive reader Tiaan for sending me this footage of the opening lap from Race 3 at today’s MINI Challenge held at Wakefield Park. This meeting was Round 2 of the 2008 Australian MINI Challenge and the round win was secured by Nathan Geier. Stay tuned for more details soon.
Paul Stokell has brought home a one-two for the DecoRug Motorsport team in the first race of the second round of MINI CHALLENGE at Wakefield Park Raceway today, leading home team-mate Grant Denyer.
Stokell staved off an early charge from Melbourne racer, Nathan Geier (Split Image Project Management). Geier, who has been the revelation of MINI CHALLENGE to date, put in a solid performance until a small mistake at turn nine on the eighth lap cost him significantly.
That allowed Grant Denyer to close up, and a lap and a half later, he advanced into second when Geier ran wide.
Denyer had been involved in an early fight with Neil McFadyen (Scope Signs & Graphics). That lasted until the end of lap one, when the Seven Network personality dived late under brakes at turn one and got through, with minimal room to spare.
McFadyen had a lonely race in fourth, but was able to close up on Geier on the final lap. The success ballast of 25kg from his round one victory seemed to have some effect on the Sydney-based racer.
Starting on pole for tomorrow’s race two will be Gary Young (Salta Constructions) when the top six finishers from today are reversed. The Melbournite was involved in a race long battle with Perth’s Paul Fiore (Shell Helix Ultra), a superior start by Fiore proving decisive.
Round 1 of the MINI Challenge kicked off in Australia over the weekend of 7-9 March at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway. Here are three youtube clips from the highlights package which aired on Channel 7 today. This was the worldwide debut of the R56 MINI Challenge cars you can read more about the MINI Challenge by following the links below:
Round 2 of the exciting new MINI Challenge series kicks off at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park this weekend, with the great news that new drivers have signed on as the series continues to grow. The ingredients are there for this to be a fantastically competitive series and I know that MINI Australia staff have been working feverishly in the background to ensure the series is a great spectacle for all motor racing fans.
I’ll be tagging along to Wakefield this weekend with clubMINI and if you’re nearby and can get out to Goulburn this weekend I highly recommend it.
The action starts on Friday with the MINI Challenge cars having practice sessions at 9:55am, 12:25pm, qualifying is at 3pm. There will be three races for the MINIs, the light goes green for Race 1 at 1:15pm on Saturday, and there’s two races on Sunday, Race 2 begins at 9:30am and Race 3 starts at 1:45pm. The weekend’s events will also see racing from the Porsche Carrera Cup, Formula Ford and the Fujitsu V8 Supercar. Plenty of value for your $35 entry fee.
MINI Challenge racer Paul Stokell is looking forward to an “unpredictable” round at Wakefield Park this coming weekend (4-6 April). Stokell has plenty of experience at the tight 2.2 kilometre circuit just outside of Goulburn, including stints in a Lamborghini Murcielago in the Nations Cup and a Volkswagen R32 in the Australian Production Car Championships. When Round 2 of the MINI Challenge series kicks off he will be behind the wheel of the DecoRug Motorsports MINI. Leading up to the event Stokell said, “It’s a nice little racetrack and being front-wheel drive, the MINI Challenge racecars should be perfectly suited to the circuit.”
Both Stokell and series leader Neil McFadyen will be burdened with extra weight, or “success ballast” on account of their good form at round 1 held at Eastern Creek. Stokell will carry and extra 15kg and McFadyen will have 25kg ballast added to his M3 Motorsports team MINI. In what will be a new experience for McFadyen he commented, “It will be the first time I’ve driven in a class with success ballast, so I have no idea yet how it will affect my times or driving. I know what having a passenger in a racecar does to the handling, whilst it won’t be quite that dramatic, I have no doubt the 25kg will alter the way in which we approach the weekend.”
This weekend saw the world racing debut of the new R56 MINI Challenge cars. The 2008 Australian series kicked off at Sydney’s Eastern Creek and Neil McFadyen from the M3 Motorsports team has taken the round win. McFadyen claimed the chequered flag in Race 1 and Race 3, with Race 2 being won by Grant Denyer. The first clip above is the intro segment from the TV coverage, broadcast just before Race 3 went to air.
See below for clips of the race.
This is one of those rare articles on AUSringers that has a solely Australian focus. In some great news for MINI fans, the 2008 Australian MINI Challenge has secured a superb free to air TV package with Channel 7. There will be a total of seven hours of programming, with the majority being broadcast LIVE into households across Australia. The first event will be at Eastern Creek in just a few weeks with race 3 on Sunday 9 March attracting live coverage.
Read the official press release and broadcast dates below for more information.