Winton Wrap day 1 recap
Friday of the Winton Wrap, the final round of the 2025 Hi-Tec Oils Super Series was a day of non-stop action at Winton Motor Raceway highlighted by four qualifying sessions.
Australian IRC Racing Series
One of the categories that qualified today was the Australian Innovation Race Cars, the GT machines had not one but two qualifying sessions.
Geoff Emery secured both pole positions in the Australian IRC Racing Series, qualifying 1 is for Saturday’s first race, the second of which is for the first encounter on Sunday.
The Queenslander will start alongside South Aussie Lee Stibbs in both of these races.
Emery set a blinding 1m 21.705s time in the first 15-minute session, he ended up 0.8s clear of Stibbs.
It was ultra-tight for p2, Stibbs pipped Danny Stutterd to the front-row spot by a margin of just 0.07s.
Victorian John Hollinger was a further 0.5s back, he will start from fourth ahead of the MARC Focus of Timothy Leithhead.
Qualifying for Sunday’s first encounter was tighter, Emery’s gap was halved, taking pole by less than half a second.
Stibbs qualified 0.6s ahead of Stutterd, Hollinger and Leithhead.
Sadly, Brian Finn crashed at Turn 10 in practice, the considerable contact with the concrete wall means he will take no further part this weekend.
TFH Hire Legend Cars Australia
This weekend for Legend Cars Australia competitors it is not only the final round of the championship, but also the Australian title.
After winning on debut at Mallala Motorsport Park, youngster Ruben Dan continued that momentum into Winton by taking pole position by a comfortable 0.628s. New South Welshman Robert Hogan was his nearest challenger.
In third Dylan Thomas made it a CXC 1-3. Championship leader Aiden Williams will start alongside his closest championship rival qualifying just 0.03s behind Thomas in fourth.
Joshua Benaud rounded out the top five and the last driver within 1s of Dan.
Brendon Hourigan will start from sixth ahead of Maverick Kemenyvary, Chais Tippett, Blake Hayne and Riley Skinner.
Several notable names will start outside of the top 10 including Ben Goodridge in 19th and the reigning champion Ryan Pring who qualified in 15th.
Hi-Tec Oils APC Endurance Championship
In qualifying for the Hi-Tec Oils APC Endurance Championship the Hadrian Morrall/Tyler Mecklam Ford Mustang scored pole by over 1.5s.
The X Class Kavich BMW M2 Competition will start from p2 with Lindsay Kearns in the CMA Car Mods Australia Ford Mustang GT co-driven by Brad Carr starting in third.
The Trent Whyte sponsored Mustang makes it three Mustangs in the top four.
The Buccini’s, the father and daughter duo in their BMW 341i round out the top five.
Hankook Australian Drivers’ Championship
In the Hankook Australian Drivers’ Championship qualifying session it was the usual suspects that qualified on the front-row of the grid.
The reigning champion Damon Sterling qualified on pole position, eclipsing Hayden Crossland by a margin of 0.716s.
It is a young looking top four with Victorian Lucas Stasi qualifying in third. One of the stars of the session was Harry Strik, the Excel graduate on debut in the series qualified only 0.032s behind Stasi.
Bradley Smith continues his great 2025 form qualifying only 0.03s behind Strik. Another debutant Aaron Imbach will start in sixth ahead of Peter Nowlan and Niko French.
Former champion Dean Crooke will line up in ninth ahead of Queenslander Kyle Gurton.
TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Car Series by Maritimo
It was practice day for TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Car Series by Maritimo and it was tight, the top four separated by just 0.4s.
The pair at the top of the combined practice times are the two drivers locked in combat for second in the TA2 Series this year. Ben Gomersall who sits second ended up 0.122s faster than his nearest rival Josh Thomas.
Queenslander Hayden Hume was less than a quarter of a second off the benchmark in third position.
The man in fine form, Blake Tracey finished the day in fourth at the wheel of his Ford Mustang just 0.4s behind. Diesel Thomas rounded out the top five, the TFH Racing driver set his fastest lap in practice 1.
Tasmanian Josh Webster ended the day just 0.06s behind in sixth, Brock Paine was first of the Chevy drivers in seventh, just 0.71s away from the Gomersall time.
Mark Crutcher, Graham Cheney and Des Collier rounded out the top 10.
Eastern Sleepers Aussie Tin Tops
In practice for the Eastern Sleepers Aussie Tin Tops, it was the returning Mark Tracey that ended up at the top of the timesheets in the combined times.
Tracey’s 1m 25.733s time set in the opening session was never bettered, he ended up 1.5s clear of the rest of the field.
Ben Arnold in his Nissan R33 Skyline was second fastest setting his best time in the third and final practice session.
Championship leader Brent Edwards at the wheel of his BA Falcon ended day one inside the top three ahead of Aussie Tin Tops rookie Todd Herring in his Mazda MX5. Herring was fastest in the Ultimate category, 3.7s slower than the time set by Tracey.
Local Peter Ryder in his Nissan Silvia rounded out the top five ahead of fellow Silvia driver Cory Gillett.
Australian Super Trucks
On debut with the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series the Australian Super Trucks had three practice sessions today.
Recent Morgan Park round winner Dale Cornfoot topped the timesheets with a 1m 47.4s lap time, but it was tight at the top.
Seven-time champion Steven Zammit made it a Kenworth 1-2, he was only 0.65s back.
Mark Noonan in the Scania T123 ended up in third ahead of Marcus Prillwitz and veteran Frank Amoroso.
Shannon Smith’s Kenworth T900 did not complete a lap today, the truck was taken back to Melbourne for some overnight repairs.
The action will be livestreamed on the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series YouTube Channel from 10.00am AEDT and broadcast on SBS Viceland/Fox Sports and Kayo from 1pm AEDT.