Round 1 2020 MRF Australian Production Car Championship
Round 1 2020 MRF Australian Production Car Championship
Round 1 was held at Sydney Motorsport Park, March 6-8th.
Format: 4 x 1 Hour races with compulsory pitstop to change 2 tyres.
Car 23 – Beric Lynton and Tim Leahey
Friday:
Leading into the weekend we were having issues with putting a tune in the car. Therefore we ran the car in stock format.
We sourced some parts on Friday afternoon and replaced some parts hoping to fix the issues, including a new battery. Boys worked Friday night and Saturday morning to complete the work before Qualifying Saturday.
Qualifying
The work we did, didn’t fix the problem and Tim couldn’t only do 2 laps with issues and qualify 18th for race 1.
Races
Beric and Tim split the races, 1 each on Saturday and Sunday. Both got to race in the dry and a wet race.
Race 1 – Wet race Saturday lunch
Tim started 18th in the rain, on a drying track set the fastest lap of the race on the last lap to finish 4th.
19th after Lap 1 before moving to 6th by lap 6. Pitted on lap 7 from 6th, after the stop fell back to 20th.
Moved back up to 6th by lap 17. Moved to 4th on lap 25.
Finished 4th, 1st in class.
Race 2 – Dry race Saturday afternoon
Beric started 4th, where Tim finished.
Beric pitted lap 7 from 4th, dropped back to 10th.
Took the lead on lap 16, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 4. Went on to win the race by 8 seconds.
Race 3 – Wet race Sunday Morning
Beric started from position 1, leading the first 3 laps before pitting from 4th on lap 4. Dropped back to 10th before finishing 4th.
Car would change traction control modes itself, from either full on, half off, full off. Making it difficult to obtain maximum acceleration performance.
Race 4 – Dry race Sunday Afternoon
We left the car running for 2 hours between races as the car had turned the traction control completely off, so we didn’t want to risk it changing. This worked and Tim was able to race with no traction control in the dry.
Tim led the first 7 laps before pitting, dropping back to 17th.
Drove back to 1st on lap 15 to win the race by 28 seconds. Tim set the fastest lap of the race on lap 3.
Car 56 – Shane Smollen and Scott Turner
The second M3 built and prepared by Bruce Lynton BM Service. Car’s first race meeting after a 1 test day at QR in February. Leased to Shane and Scott for APC Rd 1 and Bathurst 6 Hour.
Qualifying
Shane qualified the car in position 2.
Race 1 – Wet race Saturday lunch
Shane started 2nd, led lap 1 before dropping back to 3rd. Was 4th when he pitted on lap 5, pitstop was slow, first one for the season by the team. Dropped back to 32nd.
Shane drove back to finish 8th, one lap down.
Race 2 – Dry race Saturday afternoon
Scott started 9th, pitting lap 14 after being as high as 3rd.
Scott finished 7th, a lap down.
Race 3 – Wet race Sunday Morning
Scott unfortunately had an off and didn’t finish the race.
Race 4 – Dry race Sunday Afternoon
Shane was in position on 5 after one lap. He pitted from 2nd on lap 9, dropping back to 15th.
Shane finished a strong 3rd place. A good finish to the weekend for Shane and the new car.
Overall Weekend
Beric and Tim won the weekend outright and for class A1.
Shane and Scott finished 6th outright and 3rd in class for the weekend.
Speedcafe article- https://www.speedcafe.com/2020/03/08/lynton-leahey-snag-production-cars-spoils-in-sydney/
Bathurst 6 Hour article – https://bathurst6hour.com.au/2020/03/09/6-hour-champions-kickstart-2020-with-sydney-win/
Quote – Source Amanda Jackson, APC Website http://australianproductioncars.com.au/2020/03/08/quoteboard-2020-mrf-tyres-apc-round-one/