TekworkX Motorsport have enjoyed the most successful weekend of racing in the team’s history to date, with six victories across the two Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge classes and a sweep of the round in TGRA GR Cup.

Bradi Owen led the way with a dominating weekend in the inaugural weekend for the new generation of Toyota racing in Australia. Owen earned his first pole position on Friday afternoon with then 15-year-old Lincoln Taylor qualifying eighth on debut and Zoe Woods in the mix in a field that saw 24 cars split by just one second.

An interrupted opening saw Owen tick of his first career victory in the series, with Taylor moving in to the top five and Woods also climbing up the order. The momentum continued for Owen with another hard-fought win in race two before a superb runaway victory in the final race of the weekend. Woods continued to gain across the two races to finish the weekend strong, while Taylor’s impressive debut was cut short while fighting for the top five late in race three.

It was another maiden achievement in Sprint Challenge where Hamish Fitzsimmons soared to his first pole position in the category ahead of Pro-Am Danny Stutterd who was fourth in class after qualifying was cut short by a red flag.

A communication mix-up on the formation lap unfortunately relegated Fitzsimmons to a pit lane start, but the opening race was highlighted by Stutterds charge to ninth overall and third in Pro-Am.

Race two played host to the 45-minute Enduro Cup race, where Fitzsimmons stormed from 14^th on the grid to finish in fourth despite running an older set of tyres to those around him. Stutterd took his second class win of the year, as he broke out to record a seven second victory over his closest Pro-Am rival.

In what was one of the most dominating performances seen in recent Australian one-make Porsche racing, Fitzsimmons blitzed the field from fourth on the grid to win with a remarkable nine second margin after just nine green flag laps of racing. Bolstered by a fresh set of rubber, the 18-year-old set a new lap record and was over a second clear of his closest rival for fastest lap of the race.

Not to be left behind, Stutterd doubled down on his Sunday morning performance to take out another class victory and further extend his series lead with the overall round win in Pro-Am.

Owen leads the TGRA GR Cup after the opening round of the season, Fitzsimmons has jumped back up to third in the Sprint Challenge standings and Stutterd has stretched his Pro-Am advantage to 51 points.

The TGRA GR Cup is back in action in two weeks at the Sydney SuperNight, while Sprint Challenge will take to Symmons Plains from August 16-18.

Quotes:
Bradi Owen – #25 Mineco Toyota GR86
“I was expecting to be in the top five and fighting at the front, but to be at this level and walk away with these results is really special,” said Owen.

“It is a long season though, it’s only three of 15 races and there’s still a long way to go. The car felt good the whole weekend, it was never out of the window and the team were on top of it from the outset.

“We go to Sydney next, and I’ve done a fair few laps around that track so we should be familiar and be able to hit the ground running. I just want to give a huge shoutout to Rob Woods and the whole TekworkX family, it’s been an amazing start to the year,” concluded Owen.

Hamish Fitzsimmons – #16 Nuvento Porsche
“It was overall a good weekend, but it had its highs and lows,” said Fitzsimmons.

“We’ve got incredible speed, just need to put a whole weekend together that’s the only focus now. We took the older tyres in race two and saved the greens for the last race, that was awesome. We were confident we had the speed, just had to get past everyone and punch out some clean laps.

“Stoked to be third for the round, it was a good fightback. The team really brought me back up after that first race and racing here in Townsville was really enjoyable,” concluded Fitzsimmons.