Beric Lynton and Tim Leahey have started the 2019 MRF Tyres Australian Production Car Series in winning fashion during the MRF Tyres Sydney 240 at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The pair steered the Bridgestone Select Southport-backed BMW M3 to outright victory for the round as the Sherrin Rentals BMW M4 pairing of Grant and Iain Sherrin won the A1 Class. Other class round honours went to Chris Lillis/Matt Holt (AM1 – Jack Motorsport Holden HSV) Coleby Cowham/Lindsay Kearns (A2 – CK Motorsport Mustang), Klae Eckhardt (B1 – Sherrin Rentals BMW135i) and Cem Yucel/Iain Salteri (C1 – #40 Volkswagen Golf R).
Sunday’s opening one-hour race saw Tim Leahey steer the Bridgestone Select Southport BMW M4 into the lead off the start line followed by the Sherrin Racing BMW M4 of Grant Sherrin. After pressuring Leahey for several laps, Sherrin took over the front running ten minutes into the race.
Despite battling a vibration in the rear of his BMW during the later stages of the race, Sherrin crossed the line 1.5 seconds clear of Leahey. However, a post race penalty for a pit stop infringement saw Sherrin handed a two-lap penalty dropping him to ninth position and handing the victory to Leahey.
In the A2 Class, Lindsay Kearns steered the CK Motorsport Ford Mustang to the class victory. Despite being in different classes, Kearns enjoyed a race-long battle with Australian Muscle 1 class winner Chris Lillis in his Holden HSV.
Matt Boylan claimed the second Class B1 win of the weekend for the Full Gas Racing/Nova Employment Subaru WRX while Kaden Olsen took the C1 Class honours aboard the N-Gen-Racing Hyundai i30N.
Driving the Jack Motorsport Holden HSV, Matt Holt was the star of the final race of the weekend. After securing the race lead following the compulsory pit stops, Holt maintained a healthy buffer over the field as Leahey and Iain Sherrin fought gallantly to bridge the gap.
Holt greeted the chequered flag 13 seconds clear of his nearest rival, which was reduced to eight seconds due to penalty following a starting infringement.
Sherrin finished second outright to take the A1 Class honours while Coleby Cowham overcome an electrical issue in the race to win the A2 class in the CK Motorsport Ford Mustang.
Eckhardt got the better of the B1 battle aboard his Sherrin Rentals BMW 135i, finishing ahead of the Full Gas Racing/Nova Employment Subaru Impreza of Dimitri Agathos.
Olsen proved too good once again for his C1 competitors aboard his N-Gen-Racing Hynudai, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Yucel/Salteri Volkswagon Golf R from taking the class honours for the weekend.
Despite a spin in the final race of the weekend, which dropped him to third place at the chequered flag, victory in the opening three races was enough to secure Aaron Seton the round victory in the TA2 Racing Muscle Car Series. Race four winner George Miedecke claimed the runner-up spot ahead of Ashley Jarvis.
In the Radical Australia Cup, the round went the way of Peter Paddon ahead of Brad Neilson and Chris Perini.
Daniel Gaunt took the win in the one-hour race for the NSW Production Sports ahead of Barton Mawer and Matt Stoupas.
The next round of the 2019 MRF Tyres Australian Production Car Series will be contested at the Phillip Island circuit with a pair of 300km races across the weekend of June 28-30.
QUOTEBOARD – 2019 MRF TYRES SYDNEY 240 – SUNDAY 3 MARCH 2019
Outright Round Winners
Beric Lynton – Bridgestone Select Southport BMW M3
“It was a good weekend. Tim had a bit of an electrical issue there in the last race, so we’ll have to investigate that but overall it has been very good. It has very much been a learning weekend with the new tyres, we’ve made wholesale changes to the set-up and had no issues today. It’s all about trying to find a window for the set-up to get the best out of the car.”
Tim Leahey – Bridgestone Select Southport BMW M3
“The new tyres were a bit of a challenge, the set-up required is different to what we’re used to. We’ve learnt a lot but we’ve also still got a bit of work to do to get the most out of them.
“We were pretty pacey this weekend but we still need to work on a bit more speed and also get some more longevity out of the tyre. The guys in the team did another great job, it’s always a lot of fun coming away with these guys and that’s what it is all about.”
Class A1 Round Winner
Iain Sherrin – Sherrin Racing BMW M4
“The weekend was great, obviously we would have liked to have got first outright as well and we were looking good for that but we made a bit of a blunder in the third race with our pit stop. It was just one of those things, a genuine mistake but it cost us dearly in the overall points for the weekend. This weekend has been fantastic, the new MRF tyre has held up amazingly well. There were no blowouts all weekend, I don’t think as a category we’ve ever had that at Sydney Motorsport Park for at least six years that I’ve been racing in this category. This place is harsh on tyres and they stood up very well. We learnt a heap this weekend and in the end we were pushing as hard as we could in that last race, for the whole race. We’ve learnt a lot and looking forward to the six-hour at Bathurst.”
Class A2 Round Winner
Coleby Cowham – CKMotorsport Ford Mustang
“We couldn’t be happier, the car is great. We’re very enthusiastic about the direction in which the car is heading. We’re not as quick as the front two BMW’s but we’re not as far off them as what I’d thought we’d be. We’ve got a very good base point to work with, which was the aim for the weekend. I’m really looking forward to the next round of the Championship at Phillip Island. We’ll probably do a couple of test days between then and now to learn a bit more and come back a bit stronger.”
Australian Muscle 1 Class Round Winner
Chris Lillis – Jack Motorsport Holden HSV
“It was a really good weekend for us – especially for a brand new car. We had a lot of data from last year’s car but going from VE to VF there are still a few slight differences. Matt runs a VF in the NSW Production Car Championship, so we had data from that so we put all of the good things from both cars and put them into this one and the thing is a rocket. Matt was doing a really good job in the final race, he’s really experienced around here and I’d be silly not to take advantage of his experience and learn from him. I was also very pleased with my performance to get two podium finishes, so overall it was a very good weekend.”
Class B1 Round Winner
Klae Eckhardt – Sherrin Racing BMW 135i
“It was a very good result for the team. The tyres held up well and the weekend was relatively drama free. In race three we had a mechanical issue but we pushed on and got the overall win, which is what we wanted. Pressures in the new MRF tyres and getting the car set-up right is also critical. We’d like to think that we’re nearly there and there’s a lot of good things to come.”
Class C1 Round Winner
Cem Yucel – Volkswagon Golf R
“To win Class C is a great feeling. The first and second race we went very well with Iain behind the wheel. In the last couple of laps he was complaining of a bit of a shudder in the front of the car. We couldn’t find anything overnight and it wasn’t until after the morning warm-up that we were able to identify the problem being that the front suspension was starting to collapse. We did a bit of a patch up job to repair it and in race three we had to manage that suspension and got second place. Overall, it is a great result for a car that we built over the past two months, especially given the fight put up by the Hyundai boys.”
