As the series moved on from round 2 at Winton Raceway, there was a bit of a gap in the schedule for teams to assess where they were and work on improving their performances headed into round 3 at the high speed, high altitude Red Bull Ring in the hills of Austria.
As teams hit the track, it was clear from the outset that Trans Tasman Racing had found some speed, with all main protagonists from the TTR stable able to produce fast lap times and fill the bulk of the top 10 throughout practice. Newcomer to the series Richie Stanaway was also featuring at the top of the time sheets during practice, showing that he means business. There were some interesting developments coming to light as practice began to wind up with the much fancied ERT cars not looking comfortable on the hot and slippery track whilst the lone entry from Pursuit, Andrew Gilliam looked to have his Mustang in the window.
As we entered Qualifying, the track temperature was scorching and the drivers found it hard to lay down a clean lap whilst also having to shuffle for track position to gain the much needed draft. At times, drivers who ventured off sequence to the ‘pack’ had theirs laps ruined as they had to try and slice their way through a slow pack who were resting their tyres before their fast lap.
It was TTR’s Ethan Warren who claimed pole, setting the quickest time on his first run, and then bettering it again later in the session. Brodie Kosteki was in the hunt for pole the whole time, ultimately falling just short by .009sec, but netting a front row start and the inside line for the race start. SSR/Boost Mobile Racing teammate and championship leader Jarrad Filsell secured third position ahead of the impressive Pursuit pilot of Gilliam. TTR/Cooldrive Racings Josh Anderson was 5th with team boss at TTR Madison Down 6th and the ever consistant Griffin Gardiner who is putting together a solid campaign in his Vedaval Commodore 7th. Jake Moloney, Jordan Ross and ERT’s Ethen Grigg Gault would round out the top 10.
Interestingly Jake Burton seemed to struggle, the championship front runner was only able to put his Vendaval Commodore 11th on the grid, whilst Richard Hamstead and round one winner Brady Meyers seemed to struggle and qualified mid-teens. Stanaway was fast in practice but fell short when it mattered, only starting a lowly 18th. But there were some big names buried in the field with Brad Ryan and Brenton Hobson 26th and 27th respectively, whilst Loxton would take the start from 32nd, not where we expect to see these quality drivers.
The Race took an interesting turn of events before the green flag dropped with 9ine5ive Sim Sports driver Dylan Rudd having an equipment malfunction and ramming straight into the back of Richard Hamstead during the starting sequence. It threw the start into chaos as drivers had to avoid the wreck, but up front Brodie Kosteki was able to take advantage of his inside starting position and take the lead from Ethan Warren and Jarrad Filsell. Further behind, there was more chaos as teammates Wayne Bourke and Coby Jones came together on the exit of turn one, spitting them both into the barrier and collecting a bunch of innocent parties. Three SSR cars destroyed in the one incident, along with Send It Sim Sports Hayden Harrison who was clipped ever so lightly on the left hand rear corner, firing him into a spin whilst 2 of his other teammates were victim of the same incident.
The Safety Car was called and a big chunk of the field pitted to serve one of their compulsory pit stops, whilst Gilliam, Gardiner, Ross, Freer, Hayne and others remained out and opted not to take one of their CPS so early. When the race restarted, it was the Pursuit driver who got the jump on the field and led for the next 10 or so laps, closely followed by Gardiner, Ross and Freer. This quartet stretched a bit of a lead over the first of the stoppers, Ethan Warren and TTR stablemates Down, Meyers and Maloney. TTR looked to have nailed the strategy as Jarrad Filsell mistakenly took tyres at his stop, burying him in the field, Whilst Brodie Kosteki took his pitstop on the second lap of the safety car, putting him at the end of the line. It was clearly a mistake by the team, they would have to pass a lot of cars and use their speed to climb their way back up the field.
Lap 13 brought out another safety car with Jamie Dike having hardware issues in the Fishy Mustang, but luckily he was able to re-join the race after a brief off track excursion. The safety car set off a flurry of pit lane action as the leaders came down pit lane, as well as Brodie Kosteki and Jarrad Filsell. This time it was TTR who opted to stay out, backing their pace to create enough gap to remain the cars to beat.
As the race restarted, Warren and Down led away Todd Hayne, the Send It Sim Sports driver yet to have pitted and running an alternative strategy. Gilliam was now the first of the stoppers, not far behind the leading group and looked to be in the prime position. A TTR train formed at the front, four cars running in tandem to pull away from the field. Behind them Gilliam stayed in touch with Gardiner in the picture on the same strategy aswell.
Jarrad Filsell And Brodie Kosteki were on a charge, by lap 25 the two SSR Boost Racing cars were hunting as a pack with teammate Jordan Ross latching on to the back of them and benefitting from slicing through the pack as one. The 13 lap better tyres helped these three pass cars who had pitted on the first lap, and putting themselves in with a real shot at winning the race as they had less fuel to take at the final pitstop.
Gilliam was still a serious threat for the win as the strategies began to play out, Gardiner fading a bit on older tyres as the three SSR cars looked to have healthy long run tyre life. Down and Warren would pit on lap 32 of 60, whilst Meyers and Maloney stayed out longer in an attempt to buy themselves tyre quality for the battle that was coming at the end. Gilliams decision to fight for position on lap 39 prompted the trio of SSR cars of Filsell, Kosteki and Ross to pit, re-entering the track almost 5 seconds ahead of the TTR train.
Gilliam pitted a lap later, along with Gardiner and it meant they would re-enter the fight amongst the TTR train, having to fight with each other and let the front three drive away. Up ahead, Tom Freer and Richard Hamstead were running long, waiting until late to pit and come storming home on the freshest tyres. Freer, Richie Stanaway and Hamstead got involved in a fight to the death, Hamstead able to break free and come come ninth, a remarkable recovery after being rammed before the start of the race.
Up ahead, Kosteki took the lead and brought home his first win in 2022 ahead of Filsell and Ross, a SSR/ Boost Racing 1-2, and a SSR 1-2-3, which is a fantastic result for the team. Behind, Meyers and Gilliam tangled on the last lap, an over ambitious move by Meyers into turn three resulting in Gilliam exceeding the incident limit. A devastating blow for the man that looked likely to challenge for a win all race. Down was able to use his experience to capitalise on the incidents and come home in fourth, Maloney home in a brilliant fifth, whilst Meyers ended up sixth, getting his championship back on track. Warren would be disappointed with seventh considering the speed he had shown all night, Gardiner collecting more points in eighth, a truly standout effort and another under the radar run where he kept himself out of trouble whilst others around him fell short.
Hamstead and Hobson would round out the top 10, a huge comeback for the 88 after starting 27th. Burton failed to fire all night, coming home in 13th and we know he wont be happy with that result and will be back fighting at the front at Monza. Likewise Anderson, who just never quite had the pace.
Filsell takes a commanding lead in the championship, Burton slips to third after Warren takes over second spot. Gardiner sits sixth, just behind Hamstead and Maloney who are all beginning to put a championship run together. Anderson and Meyers make it five TTR cars in the top 10, whilst Jordan Ross moves from 21st and on the bubble, to 10th in the points, just behind SSR team mate Tom Freer who is quietly chipping away each round.
We move to Monza on July 13th for Round four of the Logitech G Pro Invitational Supercar Series. Who is going to stop Jarrad Filsell from running away with the title this year? You can bet Burton will be back, Warren will be fast and the experienced champion of Madison Down will be in the picture. Will we see Gilliam break through? Will ERT make a comeback? Or will someone else take the lime light? See you then!
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