Former rookie of the year Nathan Herne will feature at the first round of the PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Northern Series this weekend for the 2 Days of Thunder at Queensland Raceway.

Three racers will make their TA2 Muscle Car Series debuts this weekend, including 16-year old third-generation racer Jett Johnson, Victorian John Holinger and Queenslander Adam Hargraves.

Johnson will race a Ford Mustang under the number #117, a nod to the Johnson family racing dynasty, with a full livery set to be revealed on Friday morning.

Jett is the grandson of five-time Australian Touring Car Champion and three-time Bathurst 1000 winner Dick Johnson and son of multiple Supercars race winner Steve Johnson.

The field is made up of five Pro entries and eight Masters racers.

Holinger will be joined by Jason Hassett in making the trip up from Victoria, while Brett Niall, who debuted at the first round of the 2020 season at Winton, will travel from Western Australia for his first drive of his brand new Chevrolet Camaro.

Following a shortened 2020 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic, John McLaughlin returns to the wheel of the #17 Mustang and will duke it out for Pro class honours with Herne, Johnson, Niall and Chris Pappas.

After missing the season opener at Sydney Motorsport Park, 2017 national series champion Russell Wright returns to the seat of the #55 Mustang.

Wright will battle for Masters honours against Holinger, Hargraves, New South Welshman Mark Crutcher and Queenslanders Peter Robinson, Anthony Tenkate and Warren Wadley.

The 2 Days of Thunder will hold the first round of the Northern Series following the postponement of the AMRS round scheduled for Morgan Park in May, the northern series will return (along with the national round of the TA2 Muscle Car Series) to Queensland Raceway in August, followed by two New South Wales events at Wakefield Park in October and the Bathurst International in December.

The 2 Days of Thunder event also marks a return to where it all began for the TA2 Muscle Car Series, with a demonstration held for the first five cars to arrive in the country back in 2016, with over 60 cars registered in the country today.

The event format will see cars first hit the track for general practice on Friday. A single 15-minute official practice session will take place on Saturday morning, followed by a 15 minute Qualifying session and the first 12-lap sprint race in the afternoon. The final three 12-lap races will be held on Sunday.

ENTRY LIST 2021 PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series Round 1 - Sydney Motorsport Park, March 5/7

MASTERS, #4 Mark Crutcher (NSW), Dodge Challenger - Crutcher Developments MASTERS, #10 Peter Robinson (QLD), Dodge Challenger - PBR Distributions/Wagner Corp PRO, #17 John McLaughlin (QLD), Ford Mustang - My Race Profile MASTERS, #20 Adam Hargraves (QLD), Chevrolet Camaro - Local Search Racing MASTERS, #23 John Holinger (VIC), Chevrolet Camaro MASTERS, #26 Jason Hassett (VIC), Chevrolet Camaro - Hass Pumps PRO, #29 Nathan Herne (NSW), Dodge Challenger - PBR Distributions PRO, #54 Brett Niall (WA), Chevrolet Camaro MASTERS, #55 Russell Wright (QLD), Ford Mustang - Wright Property Developments MASTERS, #69 Anthony Tenkate (QLD), Ford Mustang - Tenkate Plant Hire PRO, #88 Chris Pappas (QLD), Ford Mustang - Wealthrite MASTERS, #888 Warren Wadley (QLD), Ford Mustang - Wadley Developments PRO, #117 Jett Johnson (QLD), Ford Mustang

SCHEDULE PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series Northern Series - Queensland Raceway 2 Days of Thunder - June 26-28

SATURDAY 10:10am - Practice 1 (15 minutes) 12:15pm - Qualifying (15 minutes) 3:04pm - Race 1 (12 laps)

SUNDAY 9:20am - Race 2 (12 laps) 11:35am - Race 3 (12 laps) 2:20pm - Race 4 (12 laps)

Jett Johnson has revealed the #117 Full Throttle BBQ Ford Mustang that he will make his PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series debut in this weekend at the 2 Days of Thunder at Queensland Raceway.

Johnson has revealed a striking black and fluro yellow livery boasting major support from Full Throttle BBQ, a texan style Barbecue café located in Newcastle, New South Wales. The #117 Mustang also displays support from Pirtek, myracewebsites.com, SS Media and Signwayz.

After commencing his racing journey in go-karts, the third-generation racer has been racing in the Queensland Hyundai Excel State Championship for the last two years, but his step to the TA2 Muscle Cars will mark his first race in a V8-powered machine.

Jett, the grandson of five-time Australian Touring Car Champion and three-time Bathurst 1000 winner Dick Johnson, will have his multiple Supercars race-winning father Steve in his corner this weekend in a family run-effort, with car owner and TA2 regular Warren Wadley also joining him on the grid in a two-car team.

The Johnson/Wadley team will be bolstered with support from Supercars championship-winning engineer Paul Forgie to help out both drivers.

His step into TA2 racing also mirrors that of Steven’s racing journey, who raced in the New Zealand TraNZam category in the mid-1990s.

Johnson first tasted a TA2 car at Queensland Raceway last year at 15 years of age, and is using this weekend’s Northern Series event to continue his learning, with the aim to complete the remainder of this year’s TA2 Muscle Car Series season.

The 2 Days of Thunder will hold the first round of the Northern Series following the postponement of the AMRS round scheduled for Morgan Park in May, before the TA2 Muscle Car Series continues at Winton Motor Raceway on 16-18 July.

Johnson will get behind the wheel of the #117 Full Throttle BBQ Ford Mustang on Friday for general practice.

The event format will see a single 15-minute official practice session on Saturday morning, followed by a 15-minute Qualifying session and the first 12-lap sprint race in the afternoon. The final three 12-lap races will be held on Sunday.

QUOTES Jett Johnson, driver - #117 Full Throttle BBQ Ford Mustang

“I’m so excited to get behind the wheel of the Full Throttle BBQ Mustang this weekend for my first TA2 race,” said Jett Johnson.

“The TA2 Mustang looks unreal and I have loved driving it so far.”

“It is a lot more fun to drive than the Hyundai Excel, it takes a bit more discipline to drive on the edge and it’s easy to have the back-end hanging out at every corner.

“The main thing for me is to learn the discipline of driving and race craft, but also how to manage the tyres over a race weekend.

“Going into this weekend the aim is to just learn about the car, get used to it and have some fun out on track with a full grid of TA2 cars.”

Steve Johnson, Team Johnson - #117 Full Throttle BBQ Ford Mustang

“The Full Throttle BBQ Ford Mustang looks incredible, and we can’t wait to get it out on track this weekend for Jett’s first race in the TA2 Muscle Car Series,” said Steve Johnson.

“We’re lucky enough to have some great partners onboard including Full Throttle BBQ, which is an offshoot of Full Throttle Custom Garage that sponsor me in the XD Falcom [TCM car], and you won’t miss it out on track!

“We’ve put a lot of thought into what Jett was going to race next, and we really wanted a car and a category that gave him the opportunity to develop his driving skills more closely to Supercars.

“I didn’t want him to start to learn about racing by driving a car with aids like ABS. That’s why TA2 for us was one box ticked for us out of many we looked at.

“The cars themselves are not quite as much horsepower as a Supercar but a lot more than what he’s been used to, the different thing is their left-hand drive but that’s something you adapt to pretty quickly.

“We looked into this whole TA2 category in regards to how they’re cool cars and similar to what I used to race back in the day, and the cost containment that is going on with the rules that are highly scrutinised.

“For the cost of the cars and the maintenance, they’re an unbelievably good bang-for-buck car to go racing in a proper series in a proper high-horsepower real-wheel drive race car.

“We’ve got no real expectations this weekend, we just want to get out there, get some experience and get this new chapter of his career going with the TA2s.

“Our plan is to run the rest of the year in all the TA2 rounds and seeing how we go, head down to do the Challenge Bathurst and possibly the Bathurst International event if all goes well, but there’s a few events at QR, Morgan Park and Wakefield Park before then.”

The PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series will head to Queensland Raceway for an additional round of the Northern Series at the 2 Days of Thunder on June 26-27.

The additional event at Queensland Raceway has been added to provide track time for TA2 racers due to the postponement of national TA2 events at Winton and Morgan Park because of border closures affecting interstate competitors.

The Northern and Southern regional options were introduced earlier this year by the TA2 Muscle Car Series, combining the national rounds of the TA2 Muscle Car Series and selected rounds of the National Trans-Am Series.

The regional series was created to ensure as much track time could be enjoyed by all competitors in case border closures made interstate travel difficult, and follows on from the success of the TA2 State of Origin rounds held last year during the COVID-19 border lockdowns.

The first southern round was held at Phillip Island in March, when 17-year old Nash Morris took the win in Karl Begg’s motorsportsales.com.au Mustang from Victorian Graham Smith and New South Welshman Michael Coulter.

Morris placed sixth overall after a strong performance against some of Australia’s finest TA2 drivers including Nathan Herne and Aaron Seton. Herne is planning to be a part of a host of drivers expected to line up on the grid at Queensland Raceway, which will include a number of the regular TA2 competitors as well as at least three new names to the series.

The 2 Days of Thunder event also marks a return to where it all began for the TA2 Muscle Car Series, with a demonstration held for the first five cars to arrive in the country back in 2016.

The series that began racing at Queensland Raceway and Lakeside Park in its formative years has now grown to over 60 cars in the country with various national competition options catering for professional and amateur drivers alike.

The event format will see cars first hit the track for general practice on Friday. A single 15-minute official practice session will take place on Saturday morning, followed by a 15 minute official Qualifying session and the first 12-lap sprint race in the afternoon. The final three 12-lap races will be held on Sunday.

QUOTES Craig Denyer, TA2 Muscle Car National Series Manager

“The continual disruption to the motorsport calendar for all categories due to COVID-19 has meant we need to be flexible with all our decision making this year, and thanks to Queensland Raceway we have been able to slot into the 2 Days of Thunder meeting at short notice following the recent border restrictions forcing the Winton and Morgan Park cancellations,” said Craig Denyer.

“This event has always been great for TA2, it’s part of our growth and heritage as a category and always provides awesome racing.

“Interest in the event is strong from both local and interstate competitors so we’re expecting a competitive field and maybe a few surprises.”

“While the current Victorian lockdown and uncertainty about border restrictions made it necessary to postpone the event, we’re pleased we have been able to find a replacement date in July,” Baragwanath said. “I would especially like to thank the management team at Winton Raceway for accommodating our rescheduling request, along with the AMRS competitors and categories for their flexibility in accepting the date change.”

TA2 Racing Australia has launched the next step of their long-term vision, following a successful debut round of the PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Southern Series held at Phillip Island earlier this month.

TA2 series organisers launched a regional series combining the national rounds of the TA2 Muscle Car Series and selected rounds of the National Trans-Am Series, with the first round held in conjunction with the Trans-Am Series at Phillip Island.

The TA2 Southern and Northern series concept was conceived to ensure as much track time could be enjoyed by all competitors in case border closures made interstate travel difficult, and follows on from the success of the TA2 State of Origin rounds held last year during the COVID-19 border lockdowns.

17-year old Nash Morris was the victor on that occasion, placing sixth overall after a strong performance against some of Australia’s finest TA2 drivers with Aaron Seton taking the round win from Nathan Herne.

Both Seton and Herne have been front-runners in the TA2 Muscle Car Series previously, with Seton winning the title in 2019 and Herne taking out the first round of the PROMAXX TA2 National series this year at Sydney Motorsport Park, filling in for Russell Wright.

Morris, driving the motorsportsales.com.au Mustang owned by Karl Begg, now leads the TA2 Southern Series from Victorian Graham Smith and New South Welshman Michael Coulter.

With a total car count approaching 60 cars in the country, the explosion in popularity of the TA2 series brought forward plans to expand the variety of events and provide a stepping stone for competitors.

On top of the overall champion for the year, the TA2 Muscle Car Series will also crown a Masters champion (for drivers over the age of 50) and the Rookie of the Year, as well as the Southern and Northern champion for the highest points scorers at the selected events.

The second round of the PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Southern Series will be held at Winton Motor Raceway with the AMRS on June 11-13, with the penultimate round alongside the National Trans-Am Series at Sandown in September and the final round back with the AMRS at The Bend Motorsport Park in December.