EVENT RELEASE: After two tumultuous days of time attack competition, racing has finished for another year. Positions were still being decided in the final sessions, and records have been broken across the weekend.
With Tilton setting the pace early on, the Pro Class field was playing catch-up.
Nobuteru Taniguchi was pushing the Top Fuel / Voltex S2000RR and posting some very fast times. The car went almost a second faster than last year but fuelling problems prevented the team from giving it the final big push on Saturday.
MCA Suspensions’ S13 in the capable hands of Earl Bamber was consistently fast and beat their last year’s time of 1:27.8080 with a new PB of 1:27.3670 moving ahead of Nemo into the second overall and the fastest RWD of the event.
The Nemo Racing team were not able to overcome their overheating problems and only managed to get out for one low-boost session. The 2012 champions still ended the event in an honourable 3rd place.
After having some mechanical issues on Friday, Suzuki went out all guns blazing resetting his 2012 time and edging closer to Nemo’s time.
Unfortunately it was not to be for Suzuki-san as he once again narrowly missed out on the podium finish with a time of 1:27.958. Scorch Racing was the fastest international team at this year’s WTAC, ahead of Top Fuel / Voltex, RE Amemiya and Esprit.
Despite not being able to make the podium, RE Amemiya RX-7 was one of the most popular cars on the track, turning heads wherever it went.
Tarzan had a love-hate relationship with the Esprit NSX, ending the event in 8th place with a time of 1:30.139
Precision Maintenance Evo was the pace setter in Pro Am with a time of 1:30.9570
Sutton Brother’s S15 was spectacularly fast and only a 0.9 second slower than the class leader Precision Maintenance Evo. A well deserved runner up spot for the Sutton Brothers.
Flying the Subaru flag, the Auto Engineering Hulk was in hot pursuit of the Sutton Brothers and completed the Pro Am podium in a third place.
Open Class saw several leader changes during the day with BC Automotive R32 GTR taking the win in the final session.
V-Sport’s Evo X set the best Open Class time early on Saturday but was relegated to the runner-up position by BC Automotive.
Legions of Honda fans cheered Benny Tran who pushed his BYP Racing Integra to its limits, not only placing it on the Open Class podium but also earning the title of the Fastest FWD of the event.
Jason Wright took out the Clubsprint win in the Prcess West WRX STi putting an end to the general assumption that you need an Evo to win at WTAC.
The “mult-tasking” award of the event has to go to Jason Wright and Benny Tran both of whom drove two cars, in two classes and managed to put both of them on the podium!
Jason drove the Autotech Engineering Hulk in the Pro Am and the Process West STi in Clubsprint while Benny Tran drove the BYP Racing Integra in the Open and a BYP Racing S2000 in the Clubsprint Class. Top effort guys!
Jason Naidoo took a well-deserved third place in the Clubsprint Class in his SuperPro Evo 9.
And once again, the Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge is over for another year. We have a new World Champion – a team that has not only been the fastest at this event but managed to break the seemingly unassailable lap record set in 2012 by Nemo.
ROYAL PURPLE PRO CLASS
1 – Garth Walden (NSW) Tilton Evo – 1:24.8550
2 – Earl Bamber (QLD) MCA Suspension S13 – 1:27.3670
3 – Warren Luff (QLD) AugerTorque/Nemo Evo – 1:27.7080
4 – Under Suzuki (JPN) Scorch Racing S15 – 1:27.9580
5 – Nob Taniguchi (JPN) Top Fuel S2000 – 1:28.8660
GARRETT PRO AM CLASS
1 Mick Sigsworth (QLD) Precision Maintenance EVO – 1:30.9570
2 Andrew Sutton (NSW) Sutton Bros S15 – 1:31.8320
3 Jason Wright (NSW) Autotech Engineering WRX STi – 1:32.4040
4 Andy Papageorgiou (CYP) Simply Racing Evo VI – 1:33.2980
5 Atsushi Shimaya (JPN) Endless/R Magic FD3S RX-7 – 1:33.5550
V-SPORT OPEN CLASS
1 Dean Lillie (VIC) BC Automotive R32 GTR – 1:31.7980
2 Rick Bates (NSW) V Sport/Go-Pro Evo X – 1:32.4260
3 Benny Tran (NSW) BYP Racing Integra – 1:32.6800
4 Nik Kalis (NSW) Piazza Doro EVO – 1:33.5330
5 Simon Podlewski (SA) Move Yourself Racing 180SX – 1:34.4456
JUST CAR CLUBSPRINT CLASS
1 Jason Wright (NSW) Process West WRX STi – 1:39.2470
2 Benny Tran (NSW) BYP Motorsport S2000 – 1:41.0360
3 Jason Naidoo (NSW) Superpro EVO 9 – 1:41.2560
4 Dan Farquar (NSW) IS Motor Racing/Royal Purple Evo – 1:41.5450
5 John Richardson (VIC) Motul/Advan R33 GTST – 1:42.0590
Our congratulations to all competitors.
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