Lincoln Taylor earned his first career podium finish on the weekend, as our trio in TGRA GR Cup joined David Russell and the Carrera Cup squad at Sandown Raceway.

In a weekend of mixed conditions, Taylor shot to the front of the field in qualifying as he earned third on the grid. A wild race followed in which Taylor was one of the stars in a sensational battle for the podium places, with the 16-year-old claiming third place and his first podium finish of his rookie season.

After getting pushed off the track in Race 2, Taylor fought from the back in a heavily interrupted final race to pick up seven spots in just a couple of green flag laps.

“First race was pretty good in the wet, we started out of third and got up to second but we had to give the position back so we ended up finishing in third. Unfortunately, I got a little hit from behind and ended up in the gravel trap in Race 2.

“We got up to 23rd in the final race after starting from P30, which was pretty good considering we had about two laps of racing. Just want to thank all of my sponsors, the team, and my family for all the support and getting me here,” said Taylor.

Bradi Owen pulled off a strong recovery across the course of the weekend, after qualifying 12th on the grid for Race 1. Owen stormed his way to eighth in the opening race, before picking up another four spots in Race 2 along with the fastest lap of the race to sit third on the grid for the final race of the weekend.

An exceptional start saw Owen up to second and chasing down the leader, but Safety Car interruptions brought the field back to the rear bumper of Owen’s Mineco Toyota. A frantic final lap dash saw Owen dived left and right, but the title contender kept a level head to bring it home in fourth for his eighth top five finish from nine races this season.

“We struggled a little bit in the wet qualifying, which to be honest put us on the back foot a fair bit in the races having to come through the field. We finished eighth in Race 1, finished third in Race 2 and we were quite racy in Race 3. On the last lap everyone was having a bit of a crack, so we ended up fourth.

“It’s not ideal, we got a podium, but I don’t think our true pace was shown this weekend. We still have six races to go, so we just need to be on it the next two rounds and hopefully we’re there for the championship,” said Owen.

Zoe Woods made good progress over the weekend as well, working her way forward in the challenging conditions and avoiding the chaos unfolding in the field. Woods battled her way to results of 30th, 25th and 28th.

“It’s been pretty hectic this weekend with the weather, we’ve had all seasons. It’s been pretty good, in the wet weather it wasn’t my greatest qualifying but we moved forward and had a nice dry race yesterday afternoon which got me up to 25th.

“I’m really happy with that result, we couldn’t make any moves to build on that in Race 3 with only a couple laps but overall a great weekend and looking forward to Bathurst,” said Woods.

David Russell was in the action all weekend as well in the Hire A Hubby Porsche in Carrera Cup, after qualifying in sixth for Race 1. It was particularly wet for the opening race, with Russell moving forward to record a determined fifth place result after an early excursion in the treacherous conditions.

Russell expertly raced his way to cross the line third in the Enduro Cup race, but a post-race penalty demoted him back to another fifth-place result, his tenth top five of the year from 15 races. After copping a hit early in the third race of the weekend, Russell rounded out the weekend with another consistent points haul in seventh.

“What a whirlwind that was, a lot of mixed conditions this weekend. It was very wet and soggy in the races, I made a small mistake in Race 1 and ran off but we were able to recover to fifth which kept us up the pointy end,” said Russell.

“We had a really good one in Race 2, the conditions were wet and then it was drying but then we had some showers so it was a pretty hectic one. We managed to get through to third on the road, but we had some small contact with another car and the officials saw the other side of it to ours.

“Starting out of sixth for the final race, unfortunately early on I got a fair old whack from behind and a car got up the inside. That just sort of dropped us back to where we weren’t able to push on and get to that main group to make up some spots.

“Overall we’ve got a straight car, finished all the races and collected some good points. Now we get ready for my favourite track Bathurst coming up soon and then the street circuits, so I can’t wait,” concluded Russell.

Round six of Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia and round four in TGRA GR Cup both take place as part of the Bathurst 1000 weekend from October 10-13.