TA2 Championship Winners Ring Up for Grabs at Final Round

TA2 Muscle Cars most unique series prize, the Championship Ring is set to be fought out by three drivers at the final round of the TA2 Muscle Car Series at Calder Park Raceway- framed by HYTEK Steel Framing on the 30th November - 2nd December. 

The ring itself is an Australian-made, hand-crafted 18ct Gold piece, designed by Stuart Bishop of Wallace Bishop Jewellery.  The centrepiece of the ring is a wheel, which was drawn to replicate the wheels that are used in the TA2 Muscle Car Series. 

Previous championship ring winners include inaugural series winner Russell Wright in 2017, Ashely Jarvis in 2018, Aaron Seton in 2019 and third generation racer Jett Johnson in 2022.

Dylan Thomas, Josh Haynes, and Jackson Rice are all withing striking distance of taking the series win, with only 38 points between them, and 240 points up for grabs over the 4-race weekend. Thomas has been consistent all year, and has led the series from Round One, while both Haynes and Rice have had to come from behind, however all three are in with a real chance of taking home the gold.

The final round at the re-birthed Calder Park in Melbourne gives no home track advantage to any driver, and all will have a chance to practice prior to the round.

In addition to the series ring, the winner will receive a totally re-freshed engine for the 2024 season, while the runners up will each receive and gearbox and diff rebuild respectively by PBR Distributions, the technical partner to the TA2 Muscle Car Series.

The RaceTech Rookie of the Round Award has become a defining element of this season, recognising the fresh talent to the series. 

In a season where young guns are making their presence felt, the 2023 Rookie standings have proven to be a battleground of fierce competition.  Former Heritage Touring Car driver Greg Keam has taken the lead in the Debeer Refinish Ford Mustang, 128 points in front of 18-year-old Hayden Hume in the Total Parts Plus Dodge Challenger. Hume did not compete at the recent Sydney Motorsport Park round due to his Toyota 86 commitments at Bathurst the week before but will enter the Calder finale.

This year's award will come with an extraordinary prize - a cutting-edge RaceTech simulator seat and chassis worth over $2000, enabling the winner to hone their skills and fine-tune their race craft at home.

All the prizes will be awarded at the Hi-Tec Oils Presentation Evening, Sunday December 3. Practise for the final round of the TA2 Muscle Car Series - framed by HYTEK Steel Framing  will be on Thursday Nov 30, with racing Friday and Saturday Dec 1 and 2 until twilight finishes. Catch all of Saturday’s action live and free to air on SBS on Demand, simulcast on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports. 

Quotes:

Craig Denyer Category Manager 

“2024 has been a very competitive year for the TA2 Muscle Car Series and with three drivers still in for the series fight, the final round at Calder Park should be something special. The TA2 Championship ring for the series winner is something we are very proud of, its unique to Australian motor sport and has been treasured by all the previous winners. Along with a number of other major  incentives such as a refreshed engine and other major prizes, we are looking forward to crowing the 2023 champion in fine style at our Gala Awards presentation on Sunday night following the final round.”

Josh Haynes #37 Beaches Sea Doo, Ford Mustang 

“I have had an awesome year so far. We have had a couple of little setbacks which has hurt us in the championship. We are still well and truly in the fight leading up to Round 6 at Calder Park in 3 weeks time. We are going to a track that no one has ever raced a TA2 car at before, we are all on the same playing field and it is all to play for. I cannot wait it is going to be an awesome weekend. 

To have a ring as the TA2 Major prize for the championship is really cool. There are not many categories you see that do something like this so I think it is really special.”