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Wiehrl Takes First Win, Bolger Takes Title Lead In Queensland |
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Tuesday, 14 August 2007 |
Sydneysider Fernando Wiehrl became the newest winner in the Toyo Drift Australia Series on Sunday, taking out round four at Queensland Raceway, while Gold Coast resident Robbie Bolger claimed the championship lead.
Formed at the start of 2007, Wiehrl's Auto Salon team had endured a challenging introduction to the series, dogged by misfortune as they developed a new, state of the art Nissan 200SX.
This weekend at Queensland Raceway, though, all of their hard work paid off.
Wiehrl, winner of the 2005 Super Drift feeder series, dominated the
weekend, taking the maximum 500 points after topping qualifying and
charging through the competition rounds.
Becoming the fourth different winner in as many rounds this year,
Wiehrl clinched his first win by overcoming Bolger (VIP Petfoods Holden
Monaro) after a re-run in the final, and climbs from tenth to fifth in
the Australian Drift Championship standings.
"For a brand new team with a brand new car, the Auto Salon crew have
done an awesome job this year," Wiehrl, whose previous best result in
the series was fifth in the 2006 season finale, said.
"Things didn't go our way in the first three rounds, but we kept on
working at it and knew we'd get a chance to show our potential sooner
rather than later.
"This weekend couldn't have gone better; from start to finish we made it our own."
Electing to again remain behind the wheel of his proven V8 Monaro, Bolger was always in the hunt at his home circuit.
While he fell one place short of repeating his 2006 Queensland Raceway
win, second place elevates Bolger from fifth to the lead of the
championship, which will be decided at Sydney's Oran Park Raceway next
month.
"We had another excellent weekend and scored another podium finish,
we're very happy with second place, especially to finish behind
Fernando who's a mate of mine," Bolger said.
"The Monaro is a great package and sticking with it this weekend has certainly paid off, now we're leading the championship.
"There's only one round left now and we'll be working flat out to try
and win the title - I know the V8 can do it and I'm already counting
down the sleeps until Oran Park."
Coming off a sensational fourth place finish at Eastern Creek last
month, Khudar Elhaouli (JDS Auto Imports Chev V8 Nissan Silvia) went
one better and claimed his first podium in the series.
Elhaouli's third place finish came after defeating another breakthrough
performer, Adam May (WheelWorx Nissan Silvia), who finished a
career-best fourth.
Two Queenslanders and two West Australians completed the top eight.
Competing on home turf, Danny Kenneally (Hogs Breath Café Nissan Skyvia
Ute) and Eugene Arendsen (Saber Nissan 180SX) were joined by Slide FX
pair Adam Trewhella (Japanese Wholesale Spares Nissan Cefiro) and Keith
Rance (Miluc Civil Nissan Silvia) who had a productive trip across the
Nullarbor.
Trewhella maintains third in the series standings behind Bolger and
Christian Pickering (Commercial Truck Sales Nissan 180SX), who was
eliminated by Elhaouli in the round of 16.
Championship leader at the start of the weekend, Queenslander Darren
Appleton was eliminated in the first round of battles by Josh Young
(Saber V8 Toyota Sprinter), driving a borrowed Nissan Silvia after
troubles with his regular Peer Industries Nissan 180SX.
Capping a frustrating weekend for Team Peer, Leighton Fine (Nissan
Silvia) and Beau Yates (Toyota Sprinter) were also eliminated early;
Fine in the first round by Arendsen and Yates in the round of 16 by
Trewhella.
Tony Harrison (Hogs Breath Café Nissan Cefiro) took out Super Drift,
heading a quartet of Queensland drivers at the top of the order, while
Rob Arborlino (Gatorz Nissan 180SX) retains the championship lead after
finishing in the top eight.
The final round of the 2007 Toyo Drift Australia Series will be held at
Sydney's Oran Park Raceway on September 22-23, with eight drivers set
to enter the weekend with a realistic title chance.
In the meantime, telecasts of the Queensland Raceway event will commence on Sunday 26 August, at 12pm on SBS' Speedweek program.
For more information about the Toyo Drift Australia Series, head to www.driftaustralia.com.au
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