Richards scores first Biante win in QLD debutThe Biante Touring Car Masters delivered an action-packed debut at Queensland Raceway (QLD) with a well-earned first round win for Shannons driver Jim Richards, this weekend.
In Group 2, a David-and-Goliath battle between the Monaro of Greg Waddington and the Porsche of Graeme Cook dominated proceedings with Waddington delivering the first punch wining race one, but it was Cook who prevailed with two straight wins in the following 12-lap bouts, impressively finishing in the top 10 overall in all three races in the Porsche.
The Group 2 championship lead, however, was succeeded by the Black Cat Racing Porsche of Rory ONeill.
Despite a range of minor mechanical issues for a number of the series frontrunners, including John Bowe and Gavin Bullas, Fridays two practice session provided an accurate Group 1form guide for the weekend with Richards fastest followed by Bowe and Bullas.
Friday practice sessions also featured ONeill and Cooks Porsches at the top of Group 2.
In a repeat of the previous round at Darwin, Saturday mornings qualifying saw former V8 Supercar hero, Richards top the Biante timesheets as his Shannons Falcon again set the pace with a 1:18.788m lap, just three tenths ahead of second of the WesTrac Cat Camaro of Bowe.
Of the Group 2 runners, Cooks Racemoves/Buik Motorworks Porsche set the benchmark with a 1:22.491m lap to qualify 10th outright.
Featuring an all-legend front row with Richards and Bowe front row, Gentleman Jim got the jump at the start of race one.
A clean start turned into a hectic opening lap with contact from Waddington sending the Sunliner Monaro of Tony Hunter off-track at turn two.
Series leader, Bullas made an aggressive lunge under brakes in the Rain City Mustang, charging from third place to the front of the field as Richards took evasive action by running off the circuit, which dropped him back to fifth place behind Bullas, Bowe, Drew Marget and Brad Tilley.
The pursuing laps had Bowe and Bullas repeatedly trading places for the race lead, while Richards worked past the Tilleys Automotive Falcon on lap three.
A drag race along the front straight saw Richards make his move on third-placed Marget and quickly close down the gap to join the battle with the leading pair.
A grass fire mid-race brought out the Safety Car on lap five as the fire marshals expertly brought the blaze under control to get the race underway again with the field recompressed on lap seven.
Quick to seize his opportunity, Tilley muscled through on Marget with four laps remaining.
With only five corners remaining, Richards out-braked Bullas at the end of the back straight on the final lap to lead the pack to his first race win in the Biante Touring Car Masters.
The Group 2 race victory went to Waddington who recovered well from his opening lap incident and used all his cunning to withstand immense pressure from Cook.
Starting Sunday morning with a reverse grid for the top eight cars in race two saw Richards grid up in eighth place behind his main rivals Bullas and Bowe, with Waddingtons Monaro on pole.
By the end of a busy opening lap, the lead had switched to Marget and then over to Bowe, with Tilley up into third.
Presented with a clear track laid out in front of him, Bowe stretched out a strong lead.
Bullas out-braked himself into turn three and briefly bounced across the countryside before rejoining the circuit, but a simultaneous incident in which Tilley tapped and spun Marget allowed the Rain City driver a lucky break as he sailed past with Richards in tow.
Bowes advantage blew out to over eight seconds, until lapped traffic let Bullas and Richards claw the gap back to 4.8sec as the trio greeted the chequered flag.
Cook was the top-placed Group 2 car in race two, finishing in eighth spot overall and impressively holding out XY GTHO Falcon of Rod Wilson.
Replicating the race one grid, Richards lined up on pole alongside Bowe for race three and, as the start lights went out, he maintained his advantage ahead of Bowe through the first lap.
Starting from fourth Marget passed and held out Bullas for a lap and a half before Bullas remounted a charge after the leaders.
Continuing the action at the front of the field, Bowe made a lunge past Richards for the race lead, but was unable to shake the seven-time Bathurst winner who quickly returned serve and re-took command of the race.
Bowe dogged Richards all the way to the chequered flag with Bullas trailing in third, giving Richards his second race win and first overall round victory in the category.
Bowe locked away second place for the round and narrowed the overall series points between himself and championship leader Bullas.
Third overall for the round, Bullas winning streak was brought to a halt, but the 2008 Biante series winner still holds a 104-point lead in the championship.
Cooks class win in race three secured the South Australian his second Group 2 round victory, with ONeill in second and Mark Forgie rounding out the top three for an overall Porsche clean sweep.
Previous Group 2 leader, Trevor Talbots absence in the Dukes Body Works Torana XU-1, this weekend, opened the door for ONeill to step up into the Group 2 series lead, with Cook in second and Talbot relegated to third.
The Biante Touring Car Masters now has a quick two-week turnaround for round five at Eastern Creek (NSW) as part of the Muscle Car Masters event on 5-6 September.
In addition to battling for Touring Car Masters championship points, the best of Australias Biante field will provide a thrilling finale to the Muscle Car Masters event as they take on their Kiwi counterparts in a Trans-Tasman contest, with both sides racing for national pride.
BIANTE TOURING CAR MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 3 (after round 4 of 7):
Group 1
Gavin Bullas - 692
John Bowe - 588
Drew Marget - 508
Group 2
Rory O'Neill - 526
Graeme Cook - 493
Trevor Talbot - 476
The Biante Touring Car Masters is proudly supported by Biante Model Cars, Rare Spares, Shannons Insurance, Hoosier Tires and official charity RSPCA Australia.
For more information go to
http://www.touringcarmasters.com.au/
