Ben McCashney reigned supreme in Aussie Racing Cars Super Series qualifying at Winton Raceway annihilating the field by over half a second in a dominant display.
This is McCashney’s home circuit and with such a strong showing in qualifying he will prove hard to catch.
“After a couple of practice sessions we put in a good effort in qualifying and scored pole so it is a good start to the weekend,” McCashney said.
“Hopefully we can get out in front and stay out of trouble and consolidate a large point’s haul.”
Experienced campaigner Paul Kemal was second quickest, but has his work cut out if he is going to catch McCashney.
“The first five laps were real slippery and it took a while for the car to come on,” Kemal said.
“I didn’t expect to qualify so high as I didn’t feel like I got a fast lap in, and it is hard to when someone runs off and drag a lot of dirt back onto the circuit.”
Adam Gowans has been the biggest improver this year, in only his second year of racing in the category he currently sits third in the Series and his third position in qualifying is a testament to that improvement.
“We came here for a test day a few weeks ago in the wet so we were hoping for a wet session, but unfortunately it didn’t rain,” Gowans said.
“The car feels fantastic though and we are pretty happy with the result in our first real drive in the dry and it puts us in a good position to score some solid points.”
Liam Gretgrix put in a handy performance to qualify in a personal best seventh place while V8 Supercar driver Paul Morris was sideline with a mechanical woe, but he still had a good enough time for 13th.
Brad Jones returned to racing in an Aussie Racing Car, driving the second Supercheap Commodore and managed 20th place in his first outing. CAMS Young Gun David Whitmore had his session cut short with a misfire as he only managed six laps.
Tom Vecicivic is once again the man to catch in Masters Cup as he qualified ninth overall which is sixth places ahead of nearest rival Darren Chamberlin.
“The car took a while to come on song as I scored my fastest lap on my final lap,” Vecicivic said.
“The car is pretty twitchy but we should be able to fix that by Race 1 and that should allow us to stick with the front bunch.”
Vecicivic currently leads the Masters Cup standings in front of Mark Duckworth and Chamberlin, and if Vecicivic can run away with the meeting it will put him into a Series title winning position.
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