YOUNG gun Jude Bargwanna has claimed victory in the opening race in the newly relaunched Kumho V8 Touring Car Series at Phillip Island.
The son of Bathurst class winner Scott Bargwanna and nephew of 2000 Bathurst winner Jason, the Anderson Motorsport Falcon driver dominated the race to come home victorious in the 13-lapper.
“It’s awesome, to join the boys at Anderson Motorsport has been a big thing for me and to step into a Supercar, its’s a lot faster than anything I’ve ever driven,” Bargwanna told Stan Sport post-race.
“So, it’s been a big step up, to take number one today means a lot.
“We had limited testing, so Friday P1 was my first time in the dry in the car at any circuit – to take a win here is really special.”
Bargwanna’s Falcon won last year’s Super3 Series in the hands of Brad Vaughan. The very same car has a great history and won the 2015 Dunlop Series in the hands of Cam Waters and also took Paul Dumbrell to his first Supercars race win at Sandown in 2010.
Commodore driver Jim Pollicina – at the helm of the ex-Craig Lowndes Bathurst 2012 HDT retro Vodafone Holden – got the jump on poleman Bargwanna and fellow front row starter Jamie Tilley, however, couldn’t stop the pair of Falcons from getting by on lap two.
Bargwanna, who scored two bonus series points for taking pole position earlier in the day, then drove away from the pack and crossed the line a whopping 24.3947-seconds in front of Pollicina.
Ray Hislop came home third in his ex-Mark Winterbottom FPR Falcon FG, delayed after a spin mid-race at Turn 4 after an entertaining battle with Pollicina.
Tony Auddino’s Falcon finished fourth clear of the returning Tony Evangelou at the wheel of the CAT/FPR Falcon driven to victory at Phillip Island by Craig Lowndes 20 years ago in 2003.
Tilley’s ex-Lowndes/Vodafone Falcon retired on the last lap after his right front tyre blew, while the lapped Supercheap Auto Commodore of Peter Abood pitted to retire as leader Bargwanna rounded the last corner to take the chequered flag.
Image Racing’s youngster Antonio Molluso started from pit lane but retired on the opening lap.
A small field of eight cars took the start in today’s opening race after Jacob Khouri’s ex-FPR Falcon BF was damaged during qualifying this morning and did not take the race start.
The Kumho V8 Touring Car Series continues tomorrow with two more races shown live on Stan Sport, a 20-minute race at 9.50am and a 30-minute final race at 2.00pm local time.
It's the battle of the one-off Bathurst liveries heading into Turn One!#SpeedSeriesAU #V8TC #PhillipIsland #StanSportAU #Shannons pic.twitter.com/3BRFRL8OUw
— Shannons SpeedSeries (@SpeedSeriesAU) May 13, 2023
In other action today at Phillip Island’s Shannons SpeedSeries round, Porsche duo Yasser Shahin and Garnett Patterson’s EMA Motorsport 911 GT3R claimed a narrow win in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia one-hour race over the Harrolds Mercedes of Ross Poulakis and Jayden Ojeda.
The opening TCR Australia Series race of the weekend proved an easy win for Josh Buchan’s Hyundai.
A range of problems affected his challengers, including a punctured tyre for reigning champion Tony D’Alberto’s Honda Civic, a broken suspension upright for Will Brown’s Audi and retirement for Brit Tom Oliphant’s new Lynk & Co.
Owen Kelly won the opening Trans Am Series race of the weekend, GRM’s James Moffat black flagged to pit lane from the lead of the race to have his window net put into place.
Nash Morris and Brett Holdsworth rounded out the top three, the former’s Supercheap Auto Mustang charging through from ninth on the grid.
Reigning Gold Star Champion Joey Mawson won the S5000 opener in a close fight, coming home clear of the chasing pack of Cooper Webster, James Golding and Aaron Cameron.
Shane Smollen led home Tony Quinn in a Porsche Cayman 1-2 in the Australian Production Car/GT4 race.
