MEDIA RELEASE- For Immediate Release, September 18

A TALE OF TWO AFTERNOONS FOR RUSSELL AT ORAN PARK

From the satisfaction of wrapping up Class A in the Shannons Australian Production Car Championship to a mechanical failure which almost ended his weekend, Drew Russell’s weekend at Oran Park Raceway featured the highs and the lows so typical in motorsport.

On Saturday afternoon, the Newcastle teenager secured the Class A honours with still almost two rounds remaining, and entered Sunday’s racing looking to stake a claim for the outright honours.

Fast-forward the best part of twenty-four hours and, in the reverse-class-handicap format, Russell and his fellow Class A drivers started forty seconds in arrears of the Class C cars and eighteen seconds in arrears of the Class B drivers.

As the race went on and the Class A cars made inroads through the smaller cars, Russell picked up places while setting quick laptimes; including his fastest of the race of 1:20.9776, which was the fastest lap recorded by a driver in the series all weekend. He soon found himself inside the top five, and battling for the class lead with David Ryan.

The challenge was to go unrewarded, with a split differential causing Russell cruise to a halt with a handful of laps remaining while pressuring Ryan.

“It’s a shame to have a mechanical problem, the car was going very strongly,” said Russell. “It was comfortable and I was able to put in some good laptimes and move up through the field. Ryan and I were having a good battle, but then the differential gave up.”

After a monumental effort by the Global Racing Industries team between races, the damaged differential was removed and a new differential sourced, and then installed in just twenty minutes. It allowed the Honda S2000 to get back on track just in the nick of time.

Opting to take a steady approach with an untested and unfamiliar part in the car, Russell lapped consistently within the Class A group. As quick as the S2000 was through the corners, it was no match for the Falcons in a straight line. It made maintaining positions he was able to gain through the corners tough to defend down the straight the next time by. At the end of the twelve lap duration, Russell claimed fourth place in class.

“Everyone did an excellent job to just so we could get out on track in that race,” said Russell. “We didn’t want to push the car too much, so I took it pretty easily early on and just bided my time. Still, the car was excellent, we just don’t have the horsepower to do anything down the straight.

“We’d have liked to have finish up higher, but considering our position even half an hour before the race started, I don’t think it’s too bad.”

The final round of the Shannons Australian Production Car Championship will be held at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway on December 3-4. While the Class A title is in the bag, the race two DNF has put a dent in Russell’s outright title hopes.

With a maximum of sixty-three outright points on offer in the series finale, Russell is currently comfortably in second place, fifty-eight points in arrears of Colin Osborne. While his outright championship chances are slim, seventeen year-old remains committed to ending the year on a high.

“It’s a bit of a shame that we’ll need a miracle to win the outright championship but we’ll still be giving it our best shot at Eastern Creek to try and end the year with a good result to thank everyone who has supported us.”

Global Racing Industries thanks the support of Go Karts Go, Best Western Mount Panorama Resort, MC Racing Group, Oran Park Raceway, Ray White Real Estate Bathurst, Kloster Honda and Bells Radiators.

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A selection of copyright-free, high-resolution photos of Drew Russell in action and driver profile can be found on the www.tokencameo.com/resources/global/