JOHN Bowe has added yet another Touring Car Masters race win to his tally on a weekend of mixed results in the Shannons SpeedSeries round at Winton.
Bowe’s victory in Race 3 was the second of his swansong TCM campaign and came 37 years after his first ATCC start at Winton.
Steven Johnson was the big winner in the points scenario though, winning the opening two races and finishing second in the finale to extend his overall advantage to 127 points over Cameron Tilley.
In TCR Australia, teammates Bailey Sweeny and Josh Buchan continue to give Hyundai a one-two atop the standings after another solid round.
The early signs had pointed to it being one-way traffic for Cupra’s Michael Clemente, who snared pole position and converted that into victory in Race 1.
Things went awry from there as mechanical issues rendered him a non-starter for Race 2, before he crashed out on the last lap of Race 3.
Race 2 was won by Tom Oliphant, the Brit becoming the first international winner in TCR Australia since Nestor Girolami in 2019. It also followed Oliphant being forced into a pre-event car swap from his new Lynk & Co back to Ashley Seward Motorsport’s Alfa Romeo.
Sweeny, who led home Buchan and Zac Soutar in Race 3, now has a 36-point series buffer.
There were cleansweeps in each of Kumho V8 Touring Cars (Jude Bargwanna), S5000 (Joey Mawson) and National Trans Am (Lochie Dalton).
While that means an extended points lead for Bargwanna and Mawson – the latter’s title rival Cooper Webster was also taken out by his own teammate Blake Purdie in Race 2 – it signals a new championship challenger in Trans Am.
Dalton, who also drives for Brad Jones Racing in Super2, is now just nine points behind series leader James Moffat.
Race wins in National Sports Sedans went to Tony Ricciardello, Josh Haynes and Jordan Caruso, while Walkinshaw Andretti United protégé Matt Hillyer took out all three legs of Australian Formula Ford.
Over at The Bend Motorsport Park, Marco Giltrap and Chris van der Drift were the best performers in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, winning Race 1 and finishing second in Race 2 (in which Dean Canto/Sam Brabham placed third).
And in the Northern Territory, Toby Price/Jason Duncan have made a step towards victory in the Cars class of the Finke Desert Race after leading the way in the Sunday leg. The return trip to Alice Springs takes place tomorrow.