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[Australian Motorsport] FIELD SET FOR PERFORMANCE CAR SEASON FINALE AT PHILLIP ISLAND |
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Wednesday, 23 November 2005 |
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FIELD SET FOR PERFORMANCE CAR SEASON FINALE AT PHILLIP ISLAND
The off season may be just days away, but there is no way the drivers in the Donut King Australian Performance Car Championship will be taking it easy in this weekends final round of 2005 at Phillip Island Raceway.
After a season of great racing and plenty of variety, the fast, flowing and unforgiving Victorian track will host the season finale.
In the championship battle, Peter Floyd (BP Ultimate HSV GTS) leads Garry Holt (Century 21 Real Estate Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII) by 47.5 points heading into the weekend.
On the other side of Bass Strait - at Symmons Plains Raceway - a fortnight ago, Floyd extended the lead up from 19 points. It means Holt will have a tough, but by no means impossible, job ahead of him if he is to leave the circuit with the championship gold.
Neither driver had a trouble-free run at Tasmania, and were unable to win the round. That honour went to Steve Cramp, whose win aboard the CVW Engineering HSV GTS saw his name added to the 2005 winners list - becoming the sixth different round winner in six rounds.
Of the 23 entered drivers for Phillip Island, 19 of them will extend the stretch to seven from seven if they win the round.
Among that group, there are some cars and drivers finding form approaching the business end of the season.
Since the first FPV MkII GT made its debut in Australian racing in 2003, development has been hard work, but it is work now starting to bring rewards.
In practice at Symmons Plains, John Falk (Summertime Pools FPV MkII GT) secured a first for the GT - topping the session. He then qualified on the front row of the grid (another breakthrough); however a brake problem in the opening race quashed hopes of a podium for the weekend.
Nevertheless, he came through to finish sixth in the second, ultimately final, race of the weekend. He was one place behind James Philip (First Auto Parts Plus FPV MkII GT), who was sixth for the weekend, in his best result aboard a GT.
In a slight twist to the
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