McElrea Racing

Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Round 4

The Bend Motorsport Park

Published on Wednesday, 26th of October 2022

Like our Carrera Cup weekend at Bathurst, we were again looking at some dodgy weather predictions for our trip down to South Australia. As it turned out, we had two dry races on Saturday but race 3 on Sunday morning was cancelled due to heavy rain and some flooding on the circuit.

Despite the forecast, the #AMRC (awesome MR crew) had tested with our five Sprint Challenge pilots the week before, so we were confident of some strong performances from Pro-Ams Brett and Richard and our young Pro team Aron, Lockie and Tommy.

McElrea Racing crew at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Brett Boulton

Brett Boulton #84

Pro-Am
Race Engineer
Andy McElrea
#1 Mechanic
Adam Coppock
R1
1
R2
1
Brett Boulton #84 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Brett Boulton #84 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Brett Boulton #84 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Lockie Bloxsom

Lockie Bloxsom #23

Pro, Michelin Junior
Race Engineer
Leigh Geyer
#1 Mechanic
Tim McCumstie
R1
3
R2
7
Lockie Bloxsom #23 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Lockie Bloxsom #23 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Lockie Bloxsom #23 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Aron Shields

Aron Shields #116

Pro, Michelin Junior
Race Engineer
Leigh Geyer
#1 Mechanic
Stewart Notley-Smith
R1
4
R2
2
Aron Shields #116 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Aron Shields #116 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Aron Shields #116 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Tom McLennan

Tom McLennan #81

Pro, Michelin Junior
Race Engineer
Stephen Robinson
#1 Mechanic
Tobias Seibel
R1
DNF
R2
4
Tom McLennan #81 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Tom McLennan #81 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Tom McLennan #81 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Richard Cowen

Richard Cowen #2

Pro-Am
Race Engineer
Andy McElrea
#1 Mechanic
Rob Clark
R1
DNF
R2
9
Richard Cowen #2 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Richard Cowen #2 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022
Richard Cowen #2 racing at The Bend Motorsport Park 2022

Summary

Huge congrats to Brett on his second straight Pro-Am round win, and taking the lead in the Pro-Am championship. Richard had an eventful weekend, not finishing race 1 but rebounding to take 9th in Pro-Am in race 2.

Lockie had a great race 1 to finish 3rd, then 3rd again in race 2 which was adjusted to 7th after he was judged to have adjusted another driver's result! Without the penalty he would have taken 2nd for the weekend.

Tommy qualified an outstanding 4th in only his second race weekend in the Gen 2 991 but was punted off on lap 1 of race 1 by an out of control Pro-Am driver - who may just happen to own the circuit. In race 2 he started from grid 9 but forged his way back to an impressive 4th.

Aron had a great weekend taking 2nd for the weekend and his second Sprint Challenge podium.

Many thanks to the whole MR crew and our drivers, their families and sponsors. We can't wait for the next round at Bathurst in 3 weeks.