The Performax TA2 Muscle Car Series heads to Sydney Motorsport Park for their championship debut at the popular Australian Muscle Car Masters this weekend, June 8-10.

14-cars will line up for the first of two events at Sydney Motorsport Park this year, as the series welcomes former Touring Car Masters racer Dave Falvey to the grid in a Chevrolet Camaro, joining Don Dimitriadis to form a two-car line up for Thunder Road Racing Team Australia.

Third-generation racer Aaron Seton joins the series for a one-off appearance in the Castrol Harris Racing Ford Mustang. As previously reported, the son of two-time Australian Touring Car Champion Glenn Seton will fill in for regular driver Craig Harris who is unable to attend with personal commitments.

With three race wins out of the four on offer, RoadBees Transport Ford Mustang driver Russell Wright claimed the spoils at round two at Queensland Raceway, but it was New South Welshman Hugh McAlister who emerged with a one-point series lead over Wright.

Without a win so far in 2018, McAlister attributes his lead to a consistent run of strong performances in the early stage of the season.

“The way our points system works, if you have a bad result or a DNF it takes a long time to fight your way back to the front. The first two rounds I wasn’t the quickest, but managed to finish around the top three in all races so far,” explained McAlister.

“I had a few category wins at Sydney Motorsport Park last year when we raced with the Sports Sedans, so I am hoping that translates to some good results this weekend for the McAlister Motors Ford Mustang.”

Series Manager Craig Denyer sees the Performax TA2 Muscle Car Series as a perfect fit for the Muscle Car Masters event, as the category continues to experience strong sales.

“Sydney Motorsport Park celebrate the heritage of touring car racing in Australia very well with this event, and it’s great for our category to be a part of it,” said Denyer.

“TA2 is an evolution of Trans-Am racing, which fed into Australian touring car racing in the 60s and early 70s. Many of the improved touring cars raced by Bob Jane and the like in that era came directly from Trans-Am racing.

“There has been a lot of interest in the TA2 category over the past few months, so it will be great for our drivers to showcase modern muscle car racing at its best at Sydney Motorsport Park.”

This event marks the first points-paying weekend for the Performax TA2 Muscle Car Series at Sydney Motorsport Park, following a demonstration at the 2016 edition of the Muscle Car Masters and sporadic appearances in local Sports Sedan events. The series returns to Sydney Motorsport Park for the season finale on October 26-28 with the Australian Motor Racing Series.

Round three of the 2018 Performax TA2 Muscle Car Series will feature four races across two days of action on the Muscle Car Masters program.

Races three and four on Sunday will be shown live through Muscle Car Masters’ social media channels thanks to a live stream provided by Blend Line TV. A post-produced highlights show will feature free-to-air on ONE HD following the event.

ENTRY LIST
2018 Performax TA2 Muscle Car Series - Round 3, Sydney Motorsport Park (NSW)

#2 - Don Dimitriadis (NSW), Ford Mustang - Thunder Road Racing Team Australia
#4 - Mark Crutcher (NSW), Chevrolet Camaro - Crutcher Developments
#5 - Ian McAlister (NSW), Ford Mustang - McAlister Motors/Performax
#6 - Hugh McAlister (NSW), Ford Mustang - McAlister Motors/Performax
#10 - Peter Robinson (QLD), Dodge Challenger - PBR Distributions/BStyled For Life
#14 - Cameron Sendall (QLD), Chevrolet Camaro - PBR Distributions/BStyled For Life
#15 - David Falvey (QLD), Chevrolet Camaro - Thunder Road Racing Team Australia
#22 - Ashley Jarvis (QLD), Chevrolet Camaro - Lighthouse Electrical
#44 - Greg Willis (QLD), Chevrolet Camaro - Cross Torque Racing
#55 - Russell Wright (QLD), Ford Mustang - RoadBees Transport
#69 - Anthony Tenkate (QLD), Ford Mustang - Tenkate Plant Hire/Performax
#88 - Aaron Seton (QLD), Ford Mustang - Castrol Harris Racing
#92 - Scott Textor (QLD), Dodge Challenger - Textor Racing
#222 - Chad Cotton (ACT), Ford Mustang - Team Supreme Racing

ENDS

About TA2 Muscle Cars
TA2 is the current evolution of America’s Trans-Am Series catering for modern V8-powered Trans-Am muscle cars, as the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger continue a rivalry that spans generations of race fans all over the world. Racing on an equal, cost-effective platform, the cars combine the prowess of a purpose-built space-frame Howe Racing Enterprises chassis and a controlled GM Motorsport engine package developing 525 horsepower that causes every head in the paddock to turn and take notice.

The TA2 muscle cars are available as a turn-key race car, ready to roll out on the grid and available for sale in Australia through PBR Distributions at Hillcrest, Queensland. 

The category has experienced strong growth of late, with 17 cars sold and 14 appearing for the season opener at Winton, and management are confident of a 20 car grid by the end of the year.

Denyer says the category has all the hallmarks to be successful in Australia.

“I think this category is one of the best kept secrets in Australian Motorsport, current bodied Mustang, Camaro and Dodge Challengers that cost less to run over a race weekend than a saloon car,” said Denyer.

“With over 500hp, they are the real deal to drive and offer a great bang for buck experience. They look, go and sound like a real V8 race car should and the fans will love them.

“I think the series will create its own niche, not just in fan appeal, but as an alternative for young drivers to experience a real race car at very low running costs, the engines last up to 4 seasons before requiring a rebuild!”

This is the first year that the series has gone national, with seven rounds taking in Winton, Sydney Motorsport Park, Queensland Raceway and Wakefield Park.

“Series owner Peter Robinson and regular TA2 driver Craig Harris have done a great job with the specs of the cars and to get the series up and running.” 

“Big walled NASCAR-style tyres and no aero makes for great racing, plus managing brakes and tyres over varying race distances will play out in strategy. Teams can only have 2 new tyres for each race meeting, so there will be more going into managing this bank than Westpac!”

Gold Coaster Ashley Jarvis dominated the opening round with a clean-sweep at Winton Motor Raceway in his Chevrolet Camaro, however New South Welshman Hugh McAlister fought back in his Ford Mustang at Queensland Raceway last weekend to now lead the series by just one point over Queenslander Russell Wright.

The TA2 muscle cars are available as a turn-key race car, ready to roll out on the grid and available for sale in Australia through PBR Distributions at Hillcrest, Queensland.

Ford Mustang driver Russell Wright has won the second round of the 2018 Performax TA2 Muscle Car Series at the Ipswich Festival of Cars at Queensland Raceway.

The 2017 TA2 Queensland champion scored three race wins from the four on offer, to claim overall round honours ahead of Craig Harris (Mustang) and Hugh McAlister (Mustang) to secure a Mustang podium lockout.

Switching to a Dodge Challenger for the weekend, round one winner Ashley Jarvis set a 1:15.8818 on his final lap to earn pole position by over five-tenths of a second to Wright (1:16.4651), followed by Harris and Cameron Sendall (Camaro) on the second row of the 14-car grid.

Jarvis lead comfortably from the outset before an alternator issue parked the Dodge on lap ten, handing Harris his first race win of the year after a tense battle with Wright, who dropped back to sixth after spinning at turn six on the fifth lap. Sendall scored his personal best finish of second, with Hugh McAlister edging out father Ian McAlister (Mustang) to the final podium spot.

Harris lead early in race two before a mid-race rain shower resulted in a spin through turn one on lap six leaving Wright to take the win ahead of Jarvis, who stormed through the field in slippery conditions to pass 13 cars to place second following his race one DNF.

Jarvis beat Wright off the start in race three before he received a drive-through penalty for a jump start, as Wright scored another win ahead of a hard-charging Harris and Hugh McAlister. Harris and Sendall fought tooth-and-nail for the minor placings, before Sendall spun at turn two on the final lap and dropped back to sixth behind Don Dimitriadis (Mustang) with a personal best fifth place.

Wright scored a green-to-flag win in the final race, leading home Harris and Ian McAlister.

Bouncing back after a troubling weekend at the Winton opener, Wright was delighted to return to the top step of the podium.

“I was really happy that I could hang on for three wins in the last three races. The tweaks we made to the car made it much easier to drive, it wasn’t any faster but it was more stable under deep braking,” said Wright.

“Ashley [Jarvis] had an unfortunate weekend after the DNF in the first race which put him back. I think it would have been a different weekend had he not had that problem in the first race, but we’ll take it when we can get it.

“The category is growing and every round we go to it’s getting bigger and better, and harder and harder to stay at the front.

“I’d like to thank RoadBees Transport for helping me to be here, and the TA2 group on a successful weekend for the category.”

Hugh McAlister (184 points) now holds a one point lead in the 2018 Performax TA2 Muscle Car Series over Russell Wright (183 points) and Craig Harris (172 points).

The TA2 Muscle Cars head south for round three for the annual Muscle Car Masters at Sydney Motorsport Park on June 8-10.

After scoring a clean-sweep of all four races at the series opener at Winton, Ashley Jarvis returns to his home track in a new car, taking the seat of the #10 Dodge Challenger usually campaigned by Peter Robinson who misses this round due to overseas commitments.

Filling the seat of Ashley’s #22 Camaro will be his father Paul Jarvis, who has previously raced in local Saloon Car competition in his family-run team.

Hoping to build on his series lead from round one, Jarvis praised the mechanical parity of all cars in the series and plans to be on the pace in the Dodge reasonably quickly.

“There is no difference between the Camaro, Mustang or Challenger on track, so it’s just a matter of setting up the gearing and suspension to suit the driver,” said Jarvis.

“We couldn’t have had a better start to the championship at Winton, so I hope to continue that run of form heading to my home track.

“It’s great to be joined by my Dad on track this weekend. My family has been a huge support for my own racing and it’s always a special moment to share the track with them.” 

The series also welcomes a new face to the grid in Queenslander George Kulig in a Chevrolet Camaro. The former Sports Sedan racer will debut the car at Queensland Raceway before his son Michael takes the reigns in a part-time program this season, in preparation for a full-time assault at the championship in 2019.

“The first race in the TA2 series is exciting for us as a team, but personally it will be a learning curve and I will use this time to collect some basic data and to stay out of trouble,” said Kulig.

“The rest of this year will be used to get Michael settled and used to a totally different tyre and brake package from his previous race car.

“We can see TA2 growing to a semi-professional level allowing drivers and teams to experience tracks around Australia, and the TA2 family are a great bunch of people to be around.”

Category management has reported strong growth since the launch of the national series, with a further three cars sold following the opening round at Winton.

The Performax Australian TA2 Muscle Cars are set for four races over Saturday and Sunday at Queensland Raceway, in support of the Willowbank 300 endurance race.

ENTRY LIST

2018 Performax TA2 Muscle Car Series - Round 2, Queensland Raceway (QLD)

#2 - Don Dimitriadis (NSW), Ford Mustang #4 - Mark Crutcher (NSW), Chevrolet Camaro #5 - Ian McAlister (NSW), Ford Mustang #6 - Hugh McAlister (NSW), Ford Mustang #7 - George Kulig (QLD), Chevrolet Camaro #10 - Ashley Jarvis (QLD), Dodge Challenger #14 - Cameron Sendall (QLD), Chevrolet Camaro #20 - Darren Berry (QLD), Chevrolet Camaro #22 - Paul Jarvis (QLD), Chevrolet Camaro #44 - Greg Willis (QLD), Chevrolet Camaro #55 - Russell Wright (QLD), Ford Mustang #69 - Anthony Tenkate (QLD), Ford Mustang #88 - Craig Harris (QLD), Ford Mustang #92 - Scott Textor (QLD), Dodge Challenger #222 - Chad Cotton (ACT), Ford Mustang