Maiden IRC round a huge success

Images: John Morris

The inaugural Innovation Race Cars Series kicked off a couple of months ago at Winton Motor Raceway with four barnstorming races across the course of the weekend, and it is a category that is only going to get stronger from here.

For Round 1, nine cars competed, five IRC cars and four older Spec MARC Cars, a solid start for a brand-new series, while the racing on track was thrilling all weekend long.

Across the course of the event, there was drama, controversy, constant twists and three different race winners.

Former GT3 driver Geoff Emery won the opening encounter, however his weekend went wrong from that point.

The consistent Geoff Taunton won Races 2 and 4, while South Australian John Goodacre prevailed in Race 3.

Taunton won the round, he sits 11 points clear of Goodacre, and a further 11 clear of John Hollinger.

“The first round was an outstanding success,” said category founder and IRC owner Danny Stutterd. “Working with the Australian Auto-Sport Alliance (AASA) sanctioning body and the experienced Barry Hay, our Category Manager was fantastic.

“I’m very pleased the way it turned out as our first ever round running a category. The AASA are really accommodating. Barry Hay, has done a wonderful job, obviously he’s been involved with Porsche Carrera Cup, so he certainly knows how to run a category.

“For Round 2 we've got some new people coming on for scrutineering and technical, but everything worked really well. Everyone had a great time, it was good fun racing, there were a couple of little incidents, but that happens.”

Hi-Tec Oils Super Series manager Carolyn Oldano expressed her delight with the debut of IRC, and is looking forward to seeing it grow into the future.

“It’s a rare opportunity to be there at the very start of a new racing category, and seeing IRC make its debut at Winton as part of the Super Series was a real milestone for everyone involved,” Oldano said.

“Winton was the perfect venue to debut the Aussie-built IRC cars. The cars look great, they lived up to all the hype and proved that Australian motorsport engineering is in a very strong place heading into the future.

“They are seriously fast cars, the work the IRC team are putting in to grow the category is exciting. I’m really proud to have them in the Super Series, and I’m looking forward to working with them for years to come.”

The next IRC round takes place at Sydney Motorsport Park on May 30-31. The weekend format will be radically different as it will be the maiden round of the IRC Enduro championship, with longer distance two-driver races.

“For Round 2 we are looking at a minimum of the same amount of cars entered with even a few more,” Stutterd explained. “We have certainly opened up the entries for older-spec GT3 Trophy cars.

“We are really excited to grow the series, we had a number of MARC 1s join us at Winton, and they were a really good addition.

“We're actually thinking about making a separate division for the MARC 1s, because we've got a number more of them joining us for next round.”

Since the previous round, a further two people have bought IRC machines, proof of the categories continued growth.

“After Winton we sold cars to Ross McGregor and Geoff Emery. Emery will be running that car in Sydney, he's already taken delivery and doing some testing at the moment, and we're dealing with several other customers thinking about the category.

“Geoff leased a car for the first round, loved the series and so much he purchased a car of his own.

“I want to let everyone know we have a car available to lease throughout the year for those who want to come and try the series, try the car, and hopefully fall in love like Geoff, enough to buy one after the round.

“So that option is available for those considering joining the series in the IRC car.”

Keep an eye on the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series website in the lead up to Round 2 for more IRC news.