First Round Winner Anyones Bet In New-look Performance Championship

Wakefield Park, Goulburn, Australia
Mar 28, 2007

A new-look Australian Performance Car Championship debuts at Wakefield Park, Goulburn, on Friday and fittingly the betting is wide open on who will win from a field of regular, comeback and new drivers.

The first of eight rounds to be run exclusively at V8 Supercars events this season features a diverse range of production-based touring cars, from 5.7 litre V8 Holden HSVs to the nimble all-wheel drive Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, ultra-consistent BMW M3 and lightweight 1.8 litre Lotus Exige.

Changes to Performance Car for 2007 include a new regular round format of one sprint race and one long race, which includes a pit stop. At Wakefield, the field will contest 18-lap and 36-lap events on Sunday, with qualifying on Saturday and practice on Friday.

The grid for the Outright class includes two former champions, Peter Floyd and Mark King, but the driver who made a clean sweep of last years Wakefield round, Gary Holt, has not yet returned to the series.

Floyds thundering HSV GTS is fast but not at its best on the tight 2.2 kilometre Wakefield layout, as are the similar HSV Coupes of Tony Alford and Barrie Nesbitt.

Two-time champion King is back after a year out in his Lancer Evolution 8 and Gary Young, in another Evo 8, contested only one 2006 round. As both may take time to get their cars back on the current pace, the main Mitsubishi challenge could come from Geelong veteran Graham Alexander, who won two rounds last season.