As the 2024 TFH Hire Muscle Car Series framed by HYTEK Steel Framing reaches it’s halfway mark, the competition has been nothing short of exciting so far. Drivers are gearing up for what is going to be a thrilling back half of the season.

The TA2 Muscle Car Series features multiple different classes, each with its own fiercely contested championship battle for this year.

After three rounds Josh Haynes leads the championship by 28 points ahead of Graham Cheney in the PHD Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro. Haynes has momentum on his side heading into the second half of the season with a clean sweep at Queensland Raceway in June.

Hi-Tec Oils Chevrolet Camaro driver Brad Gartner had a rough start to the year in a brand new car, after he was involved in an accident at Round One. Round 2 saw Gartner clean sweep the weekend and Morgan Park after picking up his first series Pole Position Award.

Rookies Danny Reidy, Connor Roberts, Domain Ramsay and Steve Wilson are all battling it out for the RaceTech Rookie of the Year award. Connor Roberts currently leads the championship going into the back half of the year on 502 points closely followed by Danny Reidy in the Chevrolet Camaro on 440 points.

After a difficult start to his 2024 season after he was involved in a crash at Round 1 in Sydney, Mark Crutcher in the #4 Crutcher Developments Ford Mustang currently leads the Circo Master Class Championship 29 points in front of PHD Motorsports driver Paul Hadley, who’s sitting back on 506 points.

Round 4 of the TFH Hire Muscle Car Series returns to The Bend Motorsport Park August 31 - September 1 for the first time since 2019. You can catch all of the action live on SBS Fox Sports and Kayo Sports.

QUOTES

Josh Haynes, #37 Herzog Steel Ford Mustang

“The first half of the season has been really good for me and the team. Obviously we had a great round at Sydney Motorsport Park where I took home the first pole position award, and battled up against Todd Hazelwood all weekend which was pretty cool. We had a tough round 2 at Morgan Park with a few mechanical issues, but managed to bag a heap of points and come out of there tied first in the championship with Graham Cheney. The moment we rolled the car out of the truck on Friday practice all the way up until the last race at Queensland Raceway the car was a rocket ship, and we clean swept the weekend. 

It’s great to have a nice lead in the championship going into Round 4 at the end of August. It is important that I finish every race and stay consistent as there is still a long way to go and anything can happen.”

Graham Cheney, #51 PHD Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro

"Going into the back half of the year I am heading in with the same mindset, concentrating on finishing all races and not making any silly mistakes, as DNF's can really hurt your championship. With Brad Gartner closing close behind me on points, I am really going to have to step it up as well as maintaining consistency if we want to win a championship. 

I am really looking forward to Round 4 at The Bend Motorsport Park at the end of August, pairing up with Zach Bates. Zach is a very experienced driver and I am hoping he can bring some of that as well has his knowledge over to our team."

The TA2 Muscle Car Series will revisit The Bend Motorsport Park for the first time since 2019 as a two-driver event for Round 4 of the TFH Hire Muscle Car Series framed by HYTEK Steel Framing.

Teams from all across Australia will make the trip down south to The Bend Motorsport Park for three intense days of racing as part of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series event. 

The format for the weekend is set to feature a separate qualifying session for each driver with three races across each race day on Saturday and Sunday. These six races will compromise a single sprint race for each driver and a longer enduro race, which will feature a driver change with a minimum timed pit stop, with both drivers earning championship points across the weekend. 

The first driver pairing locked in sees Walkinshaw Andretti United Super 2 star Zach Bates team up with Graham Cheney in the #51 PHD Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro.

Fellow Super2 regular Jarrod Hughes will team up with Cheney’s son Tyler Cheney in a third PHD Motorsport entry, with Paul Hadley to be joined by former TA2 regular Hugh McAlister.

TCR star Jordan Cox will make his TA2 return, co-driving with Mark Crutcher in the #4 Crutcher Developments Ford Mustang. Cox paired up with Crutcher in last year’s Kings of the North in Darwin, where Cox came away with first in the co-driver race, and also clean swept the penultimate round at Sydney Motorsport Park in Crutcher’s Mustang.

Supercars co-driver Todd Hazelwood will return to the TA2 Muscle Car Series joining forces with Joshua Thomas in the #169 TFH Hire Ford Mustang.

Entries and pairings of more drivers will be announced in the coming weeks closer to the event. 

Round 4 of the TFH Hire Muscle Car Series framed by HYTEK Steel Framing takes place on August 30 - September 1 at The Bend Motorsport Park. Saturday and Sunday’s races will be live and free to air on SBS, Fox Sports and Kayo Sports. 

QUOTES

Jordan Cox #4 Crutcher Developments Ford Mustang

“Crutcher rung me up and asked me if I wanted to do the two-driver event with him again at The Bend Motorsport Park, I said yes and hung up the phone. It was short and sweet didn’t it certainly didn't take me long to say yes. 

We had a lot of fun together up in Darwin for the two-driver event last year, it is always super cool when you can get the chance to co-drive, it makes it a real team event. I has some great racing and great results with Crutcher last year and I am looking forward to doing it again in a few weeks time.” 

Australian Speedway legend Robbie Farr will join the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series in a TA2 Muscle Car Series field from the penultimate round of this season, before embarking on a full-season campaign in 2025.

Farr will debut the #7 Hi-Tec Oils Chevrolet Camaro at Winton Motor Raceway from October 4-6.

The Speedway ace is looking forward to the challenge of circuit racing, having never raced a car on bitumen.

“Now there lies the problem,” he laughed. “I did do some bitumen go karts when I was a kid, but not since I was 15, but that's the exciting part, that’s the challenge, trying something new.

“I’ve obviously done so many divisions in Speedway over the years, I've done everything, but this is just a completely new challenge left field and it's exciting.

“When I first started watching TA2, I saw drivers getting sideways and working the wheel, the cars have got good horsepower and are very tough looking car.

“I think that's the attraction. If I was going to do anything in road racing, this class seems to suit speedway more than any other.”

Farr has committed to the final two rounds of the year, but for him these are just events to get up to speed, allowing him to hit the ground running in 2025.

“We'll definitely do the two rounds this year, which I think will be really good just to get two rounds under our belt.

“We’ll get a couple of test days in, and then compete in the full season next year.”

Farr will be teammate to series front-runner Brad Gartner in the #22 Hi -Tec Oils Chevrolet Camaro. Farr hopes to learn lots of the title challenger.

“We've got targets, whether we can achieve it, we’ll have to see, but I’m taking it very seriously,” Farr explained.

“With Brad Gartner as a teammate under the Hi-Tec Oils banner as well, I’m sure we can rely on him to help me get up to speed as quick as possible.”

Farr will test the car to get used to the characteristics of the high-horse-powered muscle car.

“Probably more testing on the driver than the car,” he chuckled. “I don't want to go in there cold, I don't think that does anyone any benefit, the other competitors or myself.

“We'll definitely do some laps to get to work out how to change gears and clutch and all that stuff, even braking it in a straight line and not having a wing on top, there's so much difference, so we need we need that time just to just to get comfortable.”

Farr is proud that not only Hi-Tec Oils, but many of his other sponsors have followed him on this new adventure.

“I've had a long association with Hi-Tec Oils during my motorsport career and after some discussion, we decided to reunite, and so, I'm going to be driving the Hi-Tec Oils #7 Chevy Camaro.

“Apart from the actual learning and the racing, I’m excited Hi-Tec Oils have come along on this journey, as well as my previous long-term sponsors.

Hi-Tec Oils Super Series manager Stephen Whyte is delighted to have such a well-known name join the category.

“To have Robbie Farr join the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series in a TA2 Muscle Car is great for the series, Robbie is a great guy and a great driver,” he said. “Robbie has won everything there is to win in Speedway competition around the country.

“This will be a very different challenge for Robbie and we look forward to seeing him tackle circuit racing not only this year, but beyond. It is awesome that Farr has committed to the series long-term into 2025, I’m sure he’ll bring new fans to the series.”

The next round takes place at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia from August 30-September 1, this can be viewed on SBS, Kayo and Foxtel.

Herzog Steel Mustang driver Josh Haynes has clean swept a thrilling Round 3 of the TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek Steel Framing at Queensland Raceway.

PHD Motorsport’s Graham Cheney got the best start of the top three in Race 3, taking Gartner for second on the side of Turn 1 before out-braking Haynes into Turn 3.

Drama struck at Turn 4 when TFH Racing’s Des Collier turned Jason Pryde at Turn 4, before Hayden Jackson turned John Holinger when he checked up to avoid Pryde. Danny Reidy also suffered big damage when he had nowhere to go in avoidance and barrelled into Jackson.

Cheney lead the field on the restart before Haynes passed him into Turn 3, as Hughes and Gartner got passed on the inside of Turns 4 and 5.

Mark Crutcher lost the rear and spun on his own at Turn 6 onto the main straight.

Tom Hayman charged from the rear of grid to fifth, losing a drag race to the chequered flag for fourth from Cheney.

Gartner got by Hughes for second and hunted down the race leader, setting the fastest lap of the race along the way with a 1:13.4.

Gartner pressured Haynes for the final lap, diving around the outside of Haynes at Turn 4. The pair ran side-by-side through Turns 4 and 5 before Gartner ran out of road and dropped a wheel on the dirt on the outside of Turn 5, just hanging onto second from Hughes.

Haynes lead the field away for Race 4. Gartner challenged Haynes before a safety car on Lap 9 when Collier spun at Turn 3 and became stuck in the sand trap.

Russell Wright moved ahead of Graham Cheney to bring home a strong fourth place, taking out the Circo Masters Class for Round 3.

After a Hyperco Hard Charger Award effort in Race 3, Tom Hayman moved forwards into the top three before a steering rack failure took him out of contention.

Haynes clean swept the weekend with a win in Race 4 from Gartner and Hughes, extending the series lead to 28 points ahead of Cheney.

Round 4 of the TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Car Series Framed by Hytek Steel Framing heads to The Bend Motorsport Park on August 30-September 1.

QUOTES

Josh Haynes, #37 Herzog Steel Ford Mustang

“Honestly, words can't describe how I’m feeling right now. The team's put in so much work, the whole team at Waltec Motorsport. My friends, my family, we’ve put in so much work for this, so it means a lot.

“Shout out to Brad Gartner. We had a very hard race last race. He kept me on my toes all weekend and well done to him.

“Another great round, heaps more points. The Herzog Steel Mustang is an absolute weapon and looking forward to The Bend in two months time.”

Brad Gartner, #22 Hi-Tec Oils Chevrolet Camaro

"I think we had the car to win. Even yesterday, just probably didn't get the race start, it’s probably number one thing.

“I heard Jarrod say the same thing. That race there, best chance to go for the lead was before the safety car and we unfortunately didn't maximise.

“At the end of the day, you've got three 20 year olds driving these cars very fast and it's very good racing, and so much respect for Josh, it’s just awesome racing.

"I can't thank everyone enough. Hi-Tec Oils for giving me this awesome car and everyone involved.

“Next round at The Bend is my home round, so it’ll be max attack. Josh was right there at Morgan Park, but it doesn't always work out for everyone but no, I feel like we maximised what we have and Josh maximised what he had and we're rolling to the next round and that's halfway in the season, I'm keen to get after it.”

Jarrod Hughes, #118 American Muscle Trucks Chevrolet Camaro

“I'm actually a bit happier that we finally got the car to go around the corner not too bad. Before that safety car we were really chasing down the guys in front.

“I can't thank the team at PHD Motorsport enough for giving me the chance to have a drive of this beast this weekend. Obviously we had a few dramas, but it ended up not too bad.”

Josh Haynes has taken back the lead of the 2024 TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek Steel Framing after taking out the first two race wins at Round 3 at Queensland Raceway.

After a spin at Turn 1 during Qualifying on his second flyer, Haynes returned to the track and bested Tom Hayman on his final lap to take his second Kubota Pole Award of the year with a blistering 1:11.9520, with Hayman joining the front row from Gartner and Hughes.

Drama struck on Lap 1 when Mark Bailey’s JAX Tyres and Auto Camaro turned Mark Crutcher around at Turn 4, with Hayden Jackson also collected on his way through.

Russell Wright was on a charge early, moving passed the TFH Hire pair of Josh Thomas and Des Collier into the top ten.

Tom Hayman was keeping Haynes honest until the final lap, stopping on the main straight with a driveline issue. Hayman missed Race 2 but will be back in action on Sunday with a gearbox leant by the Jackson team.

Domain Ramsay was having a good race in sixth before he became stuck in gear and dropped back to 12th.

Brad Gartner was promoted to second in Race 1 from Super2 driver Jarrod Hughes.

Haynes lead the field away for Race 2, as PHD Motorsport’s Graham Cheney jumped Hughes for third around the outside of Turn 1.

Mark Crutcher made a demon start from the rear of grid to be in eighth by the end of Lap 1.

Mark Bailey recovered from his spin in Race 1 to move back up to eighth.

Wright moved into the top five, and hurting along Hughes but settled into fifth.

TFH Hire’s Josh Thomas parked the TFH Hire Mustang on Lap 8 with a driveline issue.

Danny Reidy spun the Desert Palms Alice Springs Camaro at Turn 1 with two laps to go.

The race was called one lap early, as Haynes tool the win from Gartner and Cheney.

The TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Car Series Framed by Hytek Steel Framing returns for Races 3 and 4 tomorrow at Queensland Raceway. All the action is live on SBS On Demand, Fox and Kayo. 

QUOTES

Josh Haynes, #37 Herzog Steel Ford Mustang

“We’ve had a really good day. I lost a bit of confidence in qualifying after putting it in the sand trap at Turn 1, so the focus was just to get out there, get a clean start in both races, get through Turn 1 and keep my head down.

“It’s still very early days. We've still got two long races tomorrow, so it's all a tyre game at the moment. It was good to look after our tyres because we've got two long races tomorrow. The car feels good, the team’s done an awesome job and this Herzog Steel Mustang is a weapon.

“We've had a good start to the weekend, so hopefully we can keep that going.”

Best of luck. Thank you very much. Thanks everyone at home. 

Brad Gartner, #22 Hi-Tec Oils Chevrolet Camaro

“Good old saying, ‘second sucks’, so we've got work to do. I think later on in the race, we've got five laps of the race and then a couple of purple sectors there at the end. So, I don't know if it's me at the start, ust probably taking too long to get a full confidence. It's a hard thing to just go out there and break at the 150 mark straight away, so we need to build that because other than that, we were the fastest car on track after lap four, so we just need to do something about that and tune it up for tomorrow.

“There was a bit of cloud cover, the track was fast, so we didn't have to rag it to get that number. It was just cool to run behind Josh but he's fast and we’ve got a good team, so we'll get the Hi-Tec Oils Chevy fast for tomorrow and go again.

Graham Cheney, #51 PHD Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro

“I definitely have a bit of work tomorrow if these races play out like they did today. Jared [Hughes] definitely made me work for that one. He was filling up all the mirrors and I knew I had to get in front of him at the start because I know he's got the pace and just had to keep him there. 

“We've got definitely good pace around the outside of turn one and two and that's where I drove around the outside of Jarrod.”