Hughes muscles his way to TA2 Series Opener win at Winton Raceway

Road Active Suspension Camaro driver Jarrod Hughes has taken out Round 1 of the 2025 TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Car Series - Presented by Maritimo after an action-packed final day of racing at Winton Motor Raceway. 

The morning’s qualifying session initially saw Ben Gomersall (#35 UNIT Racing/TFH) trump rival Hughes to pole position, but the Queenslander was unable to hold off the points-leader into Turn 1 in the first race. 

Race 1 saw trouble for #81 Dodge Challenger driver Hayden Jackson, after he sustained an engine failure which caused a grass fire. He was subsequently parked up for the rest of the day.

Mustang driver Mark Crutcher and Mark Bailey in the Jax Tyres & Auto Camaro came together early in the race, with Bailey’s car failing to fire up after going off at Turn 3, while James Simpson also had an off at the sweeper and failed to finish in the Dodge Challenger.

Hughes went on to win from Gomersall with Brad Gartner, Josh Thomas and Josh Webster rounding out the top five.

From the green in Race 2, Hughes again took the lead from Gomersall while Graham Cheney (#51 IES Motorsport) and Josh Thomas (#169 TFH Racing) speared off in the infield after trying to run three wide in Turn 1.  Later in the race, Michael Coulter, Kiara Zabetakis and Josh Thomas came together, resulting in a DNF for Thomas and the 17-year-old female rookie who was very impressive in her first TA2 race weekend.

In the closing laps, Hughes sustained a broken bolt on the front right A-arm which allowed Gomersall to overtake for the lead on the penultimate lap, taking the win with Brad Gartner joining them on the podium as the top 3 overall point scorers for the round.

Diesel Thomas (#18 TFH Hire Racing) took his Ford Mustang to the top of the rookie standings for the round on debut, having qualified fourth outright on Sunday, a personal best in any category he’s competed in. The 16-year-old finished the final race in as well fourth.

IES Racing’s Graham Cheney took the Circo Masters Class outright ahead of speedway legends Robbie Farr and Domain Ramsay. 

Round 2 of the TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Car Series - Presented by Maritimo will take place on 18-20 April at Mount Panorama, Bathurst. This round will be a combined grid with the Trans Am Series promising a thrilling weekend.

QUOTES

Jarrod Hughes, #118 Road Active Suspension Chevrolet Camaro 

“Unreal weekend for myself for round one here at Winton. I came home with three out of the four race wins, unfortunately didn’t get to get the fourth win due to a failure in the front right suspension. The boys did an awesome job all weekend, it was a rocket. I can’t thanks the IES Motorsport team enough as well as all my sponsors and family for coming down and helping out. Hopefully this is the start of a great 2025."

Diesel Thomas, #18 TFH Hire Racing Ford Mustang  

“It was an up and down weekend I can say for the most part. On Saturday we qualified in a good position for Race 1 but we ended up not finishing the race due to sustaining damage on the first lap. We qualified 4th on Sunday which was my best qualifying result I have had in any category and on debt in the series it was an amazing feeling. The final race on Sunday didn’t go our way as I got spun out on lap one. I am ecstatic to walk away with the Rookie of the Round, and I am looking forward to Round 2 at Bathurst in April.” 

Graham Cheney, #51 IES Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro 

“It was definitely an up and down weekend for me and the team, we had a few issues this weekend, but the team stepped it up with the setup and the car after that was unreal. Big credit to everyone for the whole weekend, it ran like clockworks. I am really looking forward to getting to Bathurst and seeing what we can do.”