Toyota Camry driver Jason Bargwanna has taken the first win of the weekend in the final round of the BNT V8s Championship at Hampton Downs.
Bargwanna earlier clinched pole position from teammate Andre Heimgartner – both drivers locked in battle to claim the driver’s title.
At the chequered flag, Heimgartner followed Bargwanna to the line in second position, with Lance Hughes in his Holden coming third.
Heimgartner had held second place for much of the race before falling back as far as fourth place during the race. Letting Nick Ross and Lance Hughes through.
“My mirror folded in, so anytime any of the others guys put their nose in I didn’t know. So I ended up taking the wider line to give them room, even if they weren’t there. It held me up a lot, but luckily the race fell back in my favour at the end,” said Heimgartner.
Coming into the weekend, Heimgartner had held a 69-point over Bargwanna and now after race one of three for the weekend complete, the point’s gap has now narrowed to 61 points.
Bargwanna says he’s still in with a shot of clinching his third BNT V8 title out from under the nose of his young teammate.
“Its one of those weekends where you have to do the best you can, and what will be will be,” said Bargwanna.
“At one stage I looked in my mirror and couldn’t see anyone, couldn’t see Andre and I thought this could be good!
“We had to be very cautious early on as the track was breaking up everywhere. There’s not a lot of grip with the track temp not up so it would be easy to make a mistake. For me it was about controlling the pace and looking after the tyres for tomorrow.
“The goal for my weekend is to get two poles, and three race wins and the championship will take care of itself. So far we are on track, lets see what Sunday brings.”
Brock Timperley wins in class two.
Behind the class one field there was plenty of drama as the class two contenders Liam MacDonald and Chelsea Herbert made contact on track. With one lap to go, MacDonald was holding second place with Herbert close behind in third.
Herbert made contact with the rear of the MacDonald Falcon, sending it into a spin.
Herbert crossing the line in third place behind Matt Podjursky who claimed second spot with Brock Timperley claiming the race win.
MacDonald recovered to finish in fifth position and it is believed the stewards may take action against Herbert overnight.
For Timperley who came into the weekend as an outside chance of winning the championship, it was the perfect start to his weekend.
“Great start to the weekend. We came into this weekend just trying to have the best weekend possible. Get pole, win as many races as we can, and let the championship play out behind us. Which it seems to be doing so far!” said Timperley.
“Reverse grid race for us tomorrow, we’ll see if we can get through the traffic and get another win. It’s important for us to finish ahead of Liam and Chelsea.”
Class three was won by John De Veth followed by Blair McDonald and Jono Lester