Porsche Michelin Junior Ryan Wood has taken out a thrilling pair of victories in the opening round of the 2022 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Series at Sydney Motorsport Park, capping off a remarkable day for the young New Zealander.

Brett Boulton and Sam Shahin shared the wins in the Morris Finance Pro-Am class after great battles in both races, while Tom Taplin dominated the two races in Class B. Wood passed and edged away from polesitter Tom Sargent in the season-opening Jim Richards Enduro Trophy race that kicked off proceedings, however it was his race two victory that was the undisputed highlight of the day.

Tegra Australia’s Tom Sargent bolted from second in race two and led in the run to turn one, while fellow Michelin Junior Courtney Prince vaulted from third up to second. After starting from pole, Wood dropped back to third before quickly getting by Prince. The Team Porsche NZ / EBM driver then went after Sargent in what turned out to be a brilliant battle for the top spot.

Wood was applying the pressure as Sargent locked up his left front tyre on two occasions into turn six. Wood pestered Sargent on the last lap and gathered an overlap coming out of the last turn. Sargent was hung out wide as the pair went either side of lap traffic – Sargent had to take to the grass, while Wood drove down the inside of the track and snatched away the lead in the run to the line. Wood claimed the win by 1.2 seconds while it was a case of wrong place, wrong time for Sargent who crossed the line second. Prince finished third followed by Jason Miller and Aron Shields to complete the top five.

Boulton held off Shahin after a race long battle for Morris Finance Pro-Am class honours. Shahin started one row higher than Boulton, but it was Boulton who would later gain track position. Shahin was sideways at one point coming off the back of Corporate Hill, but didn’t have the pace to get by Boulton who claimed victory by 0.8 seconds. Andrew Goldie was third as Christian Fitzgerald and Indiran Padayachee completed the top five. Despite almost going off at turn two during the middle portion of the race, Tom Taplin finished 11th outright and winner in the Class B field.

Race one doubled as the Jim Richards Endurance Trophy over 24-laps. Just like the later race, Wood started off pole but Sargent got the better traction off the start line and led the field through turn one. Lachlan Bloxsom jumped to third after starting fourth while Prince was the biggest mover off the line, going from ninth to fourth.

Sargent and Wood cleared out from the rest of the field, building an eight second margin. The field was brought under the control of the safety car on lap 12 when Bloxsom went off at turn three and was stuck in the sand trap. Wood capitalised on the safety car restart on cold tyres Michelin tyres and ran around the outside of Sargent through turn four before he finally cleared Sargent off turn five.

Further back Maddie Stewart was running in sixth before she was turned around at turn four, dropping back to 17th by races end. Wood proved to be too strong, claiming the win by five seconds. Sargent held off Prince in the battle for second while Shields and Miller completed the top five. After starting third outright, Shahin held track position over his rivals in in Morris Finance Pro-Am. He would go on to win in class by five seconds over Boulton. Goldie was third followed by Padayachee and Fitzgerald completing the top five. Taplin proved to be too strong in Class B, going on to win from pole. Jacob Li was second as Gerard Murphy finished third.

The field return for one final race on Sunday at Sydney Motorsport Park. Race three will be run over 11-laps at 12:40pm AEST and will be shown live on Stan Sport.

QUOTES:

Ryan Wood, Race 2 Pro winner

“I had to really work for that one, that start was terrible again, I need to tune that up. I’m just really, really appreciative. Tom made a few little mistakes and that last lap was so hectic I’ve never been in something like that before and he got really unlucky with the lapped car. It is a shame for him, but that’s what we expected today with such a wide spread of times throughout the grid. Really stoked to take another win and it was a really good battle.”

Tom Sargent, Race 2 Pro 2nd place

“Second place is awesome, great bunch of points, would have liked to have got first, but I had it all race and lost it on the last corner with lapped traffic, but those things happen and I definitely learn’t from it. I’ll definitely be smarter for it next time.”

Brett Boulton, Morris Finance Pro Am Race 2 winner

“It was an awesome race, had a fantastic start which obviously helps and I came down into turn 2 ahead of Sam and that’s where I needed to stay. I kept looking in the mirrors and saw he was there, we obviously had similar pace, it was excellent to get the win. The Track was fine we had Luffy up the top saying the track was ok with basically no rain out there with no wet patches, it felt just like it did earlier in the race meeting.”

Sam Shahin, Morris Finance Pro-Am Race 1 winner

“That was a very enjoyable race, I really wasn’t sure where I would fit between the very good Ams and the terrific field of Professional drivers here today. I felt I was competitive with the back end of the pro grid but not quite faster enough to make a fist of it. I just need to keep trying and we have two more races this weekend, so glad to finish in one piece. We started with the pressures a little bit too high and the rear of the car got very nervous just before the safety car, so when it came in, it gave us an opportunity to get the tyre temperatures down. The car was almost on rails after the restart for about three laps and then dropped off again, so I made it as competitive as I could today, but will have another crack this afternoon.”