Posted in Australia

TA2 Racing Australia has welcomed the appointment of experienced motorsport promoter and media commentator Craig Denyer as manager for the Performax TA2 Muscle Car Series commencing immediately.Denyer takes over from current series competitor Craig Harris, who has elected to focus on his racing commitments within the series.The move sees a return to motor sport management for Denyer, who conceived and ran the Australian V8 Utes Series for over 15 years, was involved in the Australian GT Series, (and formerly Nations Cup with PROCAR), the Mini Challenge Series, and along with business partner Bill West was instrumental in the re-birth of the Bathurst 12 Hour race, working with event promoter James O’Brien. Denyer was also heavily involved in his son Grant’s racing activities.

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.

TA2 Racing Australia also thanks John English for his initial work in having the category accepted on the programme at QR and Lakeside with John Tetley during the birth of TA2 in Australia.

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.