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Trans-Am

Motorsport

Motorsport News: Thoughts on SpeedSeries set to be replaced by SRO Australia’s new national racing competition led by the GT World Challenge Australia category from next season

by Sports Benches

After three seasons, it looks like SpeedSeries will be no more going into 2025 with a like-for-like replacement national racing series being helmed by SRO’s Australia division. So that means Motorsport Australia won’t be in charge going forward after only one season when they previously controlled SpeedSeries from the Australian Racing Group, although they will continue to contribute this in some way like it was last season.

As it stands, GT World Challenge (GT3) will come right in first with the GT4 Australia and the Australian Production Cars race categories next in-line, as seen with the stand-alone GT Festival event last month at Phillip Island. 

What does it mean for TCR Australia and Trans-Am? Safe to say that they’re both not going anywhere. For Trans-Am, they might join the Supercars support bill for the most part while TCR Australia may be looking to form an Asia-Pacific competition with TCR’s Asia series. 

But that doesn’t mean both TCR & Trans-Am are going to be left out of SpeedSeries’s replacement competition altogether as they may still play a role with SRO in some events.

Don’t forget also the TCR World Tour will be back in Australia after all next year after a year-long absence, but they won’t be racing at Mount Panorama again for sure when the annual Bathurst International event will wrap up for the last time this November.

Plus, one thing we know for sure that the S5000 open-wheel category won’t be back at least for the foreseeable future when that race series was shut down at the end of last season.

Looking at the race calendar (not final just yet), what’s new about this SpeedSeries replacement comp is they’ll be heading over to New Zealand for the first time at Hampton Downs that will round out the series late next year. Other than that, there’s nothing much apart from the usual six-round event that will take place a few times throughout the year likewise with other racing series across the country. 

And last but not least, the media rights deal. The question is who will be covering SRO Australia’s newly expanded competition? Right now, SpeedSeries is currently on 7 under Motorsport Australia’s control until the end of this season before SRO Australia will be taking over from Motorsport Australia next year.

Whatever that may be, let’s hope they can keep it free-to-air at all times.

For now, we wish SRO Australia the best of luck by taking the step up to make their sports cars roar against the likes of the current Supercars comp we’ve got here.

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SpeedSeries August 2024: Catch up Interview with Dream Racing’s Jackson Rice from Trans-Am Australia – No.7 Ford Mustang

by Sports Benches

Yes, SpeedSeries so far this year may have been completely different compared to 2022-23, especially at a time during the mixed paid/free TV experiment on Stan and Nine (via 9Gem and 9Go) before Motorsport Australia took back the rights at season’s end for the competition to return on Seven once again. 

But that doesn’t mean SpeedSeries can be completely forgotten when times have changed since then as fortunate to catch up with one of the drivers competing there via the competition’s series of race categories in Trans-Am Australia. 

His name is Jackson Rice who currently races the No.7 Ford Mustang for Dream Racing & hails from Albury-Wodonga – right in between the NSW-Victoria border.

This interview is available both in written and video/audio form below:

SpeedSeries/Trans-Am so far of 2024

1. First of all, it’s great to hear from you as it’s been a long while for me to catch up since the end of last season. How is SpeedSeries going on right now compared to the last 1-2 years?

Really good, I feel like the Seven Network coverage has been fantastic this year with the support of Seven (via 7mate on TV) and the 7 + app. For us personally, it gave us fantastic value to our sponsors & our supporters. It also gave us track time and vision & I think it really boosted our (Trans Am Australia) category that brought really good incentive for other people to join us, especially going into 2025.

2. How much do you miss the International drivers coming here as well as the S5000 open-wheel category?

I think this year’s Bathurst International event is the last year they’ve proposed (with the event not returning next year) & I think the International drivers we have coming here are awesome. They brought a different perspective of class that gave an International and world view of the categories they’ve competed (from Sports cars to World Touring Cars & the likes).

The S5000 open-wheel category are awesome machines & it’s said those guys (the drivers who competed last year) couldn’t have the numbers (on the grid) to compete. But I think all those categories (like the GT World Challenge, GT4 Australia Series & TCR Australia) with the organisers involved are really cool to watch. It’s a shame it’s going to be the last hurrah that they (the S5000 open-wheel organisers) won’t continue with it.

3. Speaking of the journey you’ve had so far this season, what was your 2024 like so far if you can describe it in just a few words?

It’s been positive with a huge learning curve. So yes, it’s been an all-round positive.

4. I looked at your Facebook/social media page lately & there’s a quite a few related to Supercars, how much preparation of you driving these race kind of touring cars or sedans have benefited your Super2 opportunity? 

Massively…I think the Trans-Am is a fantastic category that opens doors to a lot of avenues including working towards Supercars & those high-end performance categories. 

So Trans-Am where it’s at right now has fantastic value with some of the guys in there who are true professionals that previously raced in V8 Supercars before through co-driving (at Endurance Races like the Bathurst 1000) or full-time.

Guys like myself – who are young and trying to make a name for our ourselves – I think that mix (of both youth and experience) presents really well for those who are scouting for talent including Super2 (Supercars main feeder category), and it’s been a massive help for me to step  from a Trans-Am into a Super2 by driving a high-powered rear wheel drive race car.

5. Looking at the present when it comes to Trans-Am, what would be the No.1 thing you wished you could’ve done any better & how you will apply this to your next set of Trans-Am races later this year in November?

I think the biggest thing we like to improve on is finishing our races. 

We have very consistent pace with the guys at Dream Racing giving me a consistent race car but we’ve been really unfortunate to have some mechanical failures which sort of put us a bit on a damper with our season’s race results. 

But we had a couple of podiums where we’ve been consistently inside the Top 8 or 6 before we were able to finish consistently to then drag more podiums at the end of the race and not having a DNF towards the end of the 2024 season would probably make a big difference for us.

6. Other than Trans-Am wait until November, do you have any other races you got lined up like the TA2 Muscle Car Series you’ve competed in the past?

I’m planning to, I like to race some more other than the usual Trans-Am. We’ve been fortunate with our sponsors and budget this year, so I won’t definitely rule it out to come back and compete in the TA2 events to keep me busy & in the seat for the next round at Bathurst in Trans-Am.

Being present at Sandown Raceway while talking a couple of other race tracks across Australia

Other than his ongoing Trans-Am season, there’s more to life from Jackson who is currently helping out at Sandown Raceway this weekend where we will pick it up from here.

1. Great to hear you’re in Sandown for the weekend, I was wondering if it was an different event you’re competing there?

I’m just down here with a couple of guys who are new drivers that come in to the team we compete for racing such as meeting them before they compete on the new Toyota 86 races. But I’m business where I don’t have to drive which is alright.

2. How’s the atmosphere like at Sandown Raceway?

It’s fantastic! I love coming to the Victorian VMRC (Victorian Motor Racing Championships). They have good grassroots & state-level racing with a great variety of categories & it’s really good being involved & see grassroots racing. To come back especially post-COVID, the atmosphere’s really good.

Pause

Link of the weekend’s events LIVE and on-demand on BlendLine TV’s YouTube Channel here.

3. Speaking of Sandown, I hear they are going to knock the place down while looking to build a new race track next to Avalon Airport. I was wondering if this was true?

I’m unsure at the moment. I know there were proposed plans (of Sandown being knocked down for housing) but unsure if it’s going ahead. But Sandown is such an iconic venue that in the end, there was so much support behind it to keep it now that I think it will be pretty harsh to get rid of.

4. I heard there’s a different SpeedSeries category event going on at Phillip Island within Victoria in the GT World Challenge as wondering if they’re hosting this alone or a part of the main event support bill?

Yeah, I believe it’s a standalone event with the GT Festival with just GT3, GT4 and other Production Car categories.

Pause

Link to watch the GT Festival weekend race at Phillip Island also on GT World’s YouTube channel here.

5. With Wakefield Park over in Goulburn, they were also being under threat at one stage due to the noise but now they still get to keep the track?  

It’s interesting that they’ve come back and made provisional changes to keep the noise down. I think they’ll definitely come back to run events with no issue. With the noise restrictions, I think they’re going to run less events and it will just be selected to certain race cars to make sure that they don’t break that noise barrier they’ve set.

His best moment of racing and even the Olympics also in 2024

And other than racing cars, what’s your favourite moment of 2024 so far across motorsport and even the Olympics when our Aussie team had their best campaign recently at Paris? I’m also wondering which Olympic sport you’d be best competing in if it was for gold?

I think our podium at The Bend Motorsports Park (South Australian Round between May 31-June 2) was a great achievement for us & the team. We had real pace we showed that we competed with the big teams like GRM (Garry Rogers Motorsport), TFH & The Racing Academy.

So that’s been a fantastic sort of point for me personally.

Then you know throughout the Olympics, the Australians really had our best campaign at Paris 2024. So it’s really cool to be Aussie and to be pretty proud when your country does well.

And for myself if I was to compete in a sport, that’s a hard one, I enjoy doing water sports so maybe I’ll probably go with Rowing since being by the water was pretty cool. I think the guys have endurance who use a lot of upper body & core strength which a lot of stuff really translates to racing cars, so something similar I reckon I would give it a crack.

Post-Notes

We wish Jackson all the best of luck as he will be back for the back-to-back November Trans-Am Australia races at Bathurst and Adelaide. He is so someone who loves watching NASCAR, especially on a Monday morning with the Cup races.

As said, if you want to keep a good eye on his driving progress – Seven & 7 + is the place to be for everything SpeedSeries.

You can also follow him and his Dream Racing team across social media:

And yes, He sure gave a wonderful shoutout also to none other than our Aussie own Leigh Diffey, who is set make his full-time commentary debut in the NASCAR Cup Series for the US NBC network, starting with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 race at Daytona tomorrow morning our time at 9.30am AEST. You can tune in live on Fox Sports via Foxtel/Kayo Sports back here who has the live local NASCAR TV rights.

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Thoughts on SpeedSeries broadcasting the South Australian Round mostly from the studio instead of The Bend Motorsport Park with a handful of staff on-site this weekend

by Sports Benches

Yes, we all know Chris Stubbs is back on Stan Sport at Nine’s Sydney studios alongside Wally Masur and Casey Dellaqua with the next grand slam already underway for nearly a week now over at the Roland Garros in Paris, France. That isn’t going anywhere with Wimbledon coming up in a few week’s time (maybe on-site again like it was last year) since he’s freelance having also done a bit for Network 10 a few months ago at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. Not only that he will be on Stan more often instead of being at Queensland Raceway twice (one in mid-July and another in early August) when the next Summer Olympics will arrive also from the same place come late July to early August. So for SpeedSeries and Australian motorsport fans, they won’t see him for a long while until the penultimate round on the 18-20th October at Sydney Motorsports Park not long before the season usually wraps up at Mount Panorama in Bathurst on the 8th-10th November. He will also be at the next Bathurst 1000 in early October as always to provide the big event action for 7 like he does every year.

I know SpeedSeries is happening right now going into tomorrow at The Bend Motorsports Park in South Australia but it seems they chose to things a bit differently by having a host/commentary team calling from a studio being supplied by SEN while still having a small on-site presence of just a handful of staff and 1-2 pit reporters. As said when Stubbsy is unavailable, just didn’t see that coming when The Bend just came back into life for the first time since 2019 & it would be great if they sent a full group of staff there to celebrate after a difficult last few years on top of COVID. However, I can understand given the shortage of staff and long distance from here – despite the fact that Matt Naulty and Richard Craill are SA based but both had to come over to Melbourne to do the job rather than from the race track. Don’t forget the series has found its progress back on free-to-air/free-to-view all over it following the mixed free and paid content experiment throughout the last two years with most via subscription on Stan and some on Nine when SpeedSeries was really struggling to attract sponsorship back then.

All in all, it’s a tough decision but glad SpeedSeries is experimenting all options in order to keep its free-to-air exposure growing so everyone who is interested can see it – even though doing 1-2 events remotely might be the norm these days like we see with other sports and also other networks given the costs to cover the production side of things & on-air staff as well.

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New SpeedSeries look for 2024 as they return this weekend at Sandown Raceway under Motorsport Australia with Seven back onboard in place of Nine & Stan Sport 

by Sports Benches

SpeedSeries has returned for another new season that started today at Sandown Raceway in Victoria where a few categories have came back, while some have came into the fold for the first time on what is going to be a huge year ahead – including the Bathurst 6 Hour during the Easter long weekend, as well as the TCR World Tour drivers coming back again to take on the Aussie field this November at Eastern Creek (Sydney Motorsports Park) & Bathurst (Mount Panorama Circuit) respectively.

But there’s also a change of broadcaster too as Seven has returned replacing Nine & Stan Sport as their broadcast partner for the next two years. Yes, the shift of having most of the stuff behind the paywall including elements of free-to-air content didn’t work out for the majority. Although if they did add the three-hour Sunday races on top of the three-hour Saturday coverage including the Bathurst 6 Hour race, then it wouldn’t be bad. However, it was the change of hands from Australian Racing Group back to Motorsport Australia that led to Nine/Stan leaving the series also after two years when ARG brought them here exactly two years ago. Before that, Seven first broadcasted the competition in 2021 (the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID) before the split paywall experiment while SBS aired the inaugural TCR Australia season for one year in 2019.

Now most of the broadcast graphics including the leaderboard haven’t changed much except the SpeedSeries logo being moved from the bottom right to the bottom left. Same goes with the broadcast team like Chris Stubbs (he will still be on Stan’s grand slam Tennis coverage throughout the year as he’s freelance), Matt Naulty, Richard Craill & Greg Rust. Although one new face have now come onboard front & centre in Sarah Burt as a few will be moved on. We won’t be seeing ex-Supercars driver Fabian Coulthard & Rally legend Molly Taylor back again. So does Matt White, who not only appeared on Nine for the first time over the last two years as host after he spent so much time between Seven & Ten, but he also returned to commentary for a bit towards the end of last season in the Trans-Am alongside Naulty due to Craill having to focus on the TCR World Tour’s Australian leg with Rust and Paul Jeffrey.

Another thing we won’t have to put up is Nine’s inability on not wanting to use the Wide World of Sports watermark as seen with the SpeedSeries’ free-to-air broadcasts last year where Seven & even Ten and SBS has presented it so nicely when it comes to their motorsports coverage. But I doubt it won’t go away anytime soon since they barely broadcast any racing until Stan Sport was born back in 2021 when Nine will get to air a bit again Live during the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June with parent streaming subsdiary Stan still holding the rights there alongside IndyCar, Formula E, Rallying, Motocross & the World Endurance Championship. So there goes your SpeedSeries broadcast guide this season other than Supercars being on Seven for half the time as well as Fox Sports who holds all of the races including Formula 1, NASCAR & MotoGP & both Australian Grand Prix events will stay on Network 10. And that is that for now as we wish SpeedSeries all the best going forward in growing the competition towards better milestones for Motorsport in Australia.

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Thoughts on SpeedSeries partnering with the Seven Network again next season

by Sports Benches

So there we have it! SpeedSeries including Trans-Am and TCR Australia will return to the Seven Network next season after two years out at Nine through its paid streaming service Stan Sport as well as some free-to-air on 9Gem/9Go & also 9Now. Every round will be live and free on its free streaming platform 7Plus as well as through 2-3 hour TV windows on 7mate. Plus, there should be free to view on-demand replays, the Bathurst 6 Hour Easter race and mid-week to next weekend TV highlights of each round.

Gotta say that the paid and free content split did not work out when SpeedSeries is not on the same level as Supercars, even if Fox/Kayo did share the series with Seven instead of Nine/Stan who did a great job covering SpeedSeries. It’s just that the change of media rights hands back to Motorsport Australia recently from Australian Racing Group makes it complicated when most of their sanctioned competitions are on Seven.

But having everything free-to-air is massive so every Motorsport fan here can check this out whether it’s watching Live or on-demand at anytime, anywhere throughout the year. It also remains to be seen who will be back next year when it comes to the on-air talent where most of them will be staying on except with just 1-2 changes, which I think Mark Beretta will be back for Matt White since he’s always been on Seven with Motorsport as well as reading sports reports for the Sunrise brekky program for a long time.

Other than the Nine and Stan exit, it looks like the S5000s and Touring Car Masters will be following them out the door as they could end up being a regular part of the Supercars schedule. Although the Australian GT World challenge will look to stay on the SpeedSeries categories list after SRO has taken full control recently alongside the Australian GT4 Series.

For now, you can catch these last two-hour replays from the Bathurst International season finale weekend on 9Go tomorrow at noon, as well as midnight Sunday 12.20am that is followed by an hour highlights from the 6 Hours of Bahrain (also a season finale round) in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

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Thoughts on Nine & Stan Sport no longer airing SpeedSeries next year as Motorsport Australia takes back media rights control off Australian Racing Group in a different route

by Sports Benches

We didn’t see this coming when there was an update today by V8 Sleuth that Nine and Stan Sport won’t be back covering SpeedSeries next season after two seasons thanks to the recent change of media rights control back to Motorsport Australia, not Australian Racing Group who brokered the deal with Nine/Stan at the beginning of last year.

Yes, Stan will continue to show IndyCar, Formula E, World Endurance Championship, World Rally Championship & Motocross next season as per promos during the Bathurst International weekend, but there’s no SpeedSeries on this list which has the main reason as to why these question marks has been raised. But then it would also be complicated for Motorsport Australia to keep Nine & Stan onboard covering SpeedSeries when the rest of their sanctioned competitions are covered by Seven. We don’t know how the coverage will look like going forward but we expect to see more free-to-air coverage since it will either be on Seven or SBS who both don’t have their own streaming arms, although a paid component will still be the crucial (expecting to be Fox Sports & Kayo) likewise with the Nine/Stan deal in order to keep the $$$ going for all participants involved.

As said, glad SpeedSeries is growing as seen with both TCR Australia & Trans-Am competitions as well as some International flavour with the help from TCR World Tour guys over the last two weeks including the way how the coverage is spread out by having a balance of both free and paid content, which is in a better place now than it was the start of last season. Let’s hope it stays that way going forward while Nine should finally have the WWOS logo on-air if they do air live Motorsport again.

It was also great seeing Matt White covering back Motorsport over the last two years here including his recent return commentating the Trans-Am races with Matt Naulty. He too finally appeared on Nine for the first time during Nine/Stan’s debut coverage with SpeedSeries in February last year after spending half the time out of his three-decade TV career at Seven & Ten. It remains to see where he will end up next after the Nine/Stan exit other than his daily sports radio job. For now, we wish SpeedSeries including its respective categories via its teams and drivers as well as the broadcasting talent the best of luck in the near future!!

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Reviewing SpeedSeries’s expanded free-to-air coverage in 2023 where there is every round live during three hours on a Saturday afternoon but still no Nine’s Wide World of Sports logo

by Sports Benches

First of all, I’m glad that SpeedSeries –  which showcases a range of categories from TCR Australia to Trans-Am & S5000 single seaters – has improved their free to air coverage this year with every race live throughout the season during Saturday afternoons. That way, if you like how the coverage and racing is like, then you can watch the rest of the weekend’s events including a full suite on-demand content only via subscription on Stan Sport.

When Nine came onboard to replace Seven at the start of last year by having most of the content behind a paywall via their own streaming arm at Stan Sport, it was initially just the opening round weekend at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tassie live on free-to-air with the rest being mid-week & next weekend two-hour replays. They even promised to put the mid-week stuff on prime time at one point to get the best out of the channel’s advertisers as well as the series itself.

But then their free-to-air highlights schedule was inconsistent & all over the place at the time while they didn’t show the Phillip Island round live at all. So to respond to that issue, they went on air the rest of 2022 with just the Saturday afternoon races Live in a two-hour window between 3-5pm. Now it’s gone from two to three hours per round with the amount of time allowed on free-to-air between 2-5pm where they showed more than just TCR Australia, Trans-Am & S5000s. Plus, their following week’s two-hour replays has improved consistently as well that starts on a Friday at noon followed by a 2nd showing either late on Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday AM.

I’m also glad to see some International flavour when it comes to seeing the world’s best TCR drivers come here v the locals (TCR Australia) as part of the two-round TCR World Tour Australian leg here over the course of last weekend in Eastern Creek and also this weekend at Bathurst’s famed Mount Panorama Circuit. There is still one more day to go where the next day’s activities tomorrow is only on Stan Sport before the eight-round TCR Australia & SpeedSeries is done for 2023.

The only negative still out of this improved free-to-air coverage is the way Nine uses their logo which isn’t the usual Wide World of Sports watermark, although Stan Sport has made good use by showcasing their logo for the all the sports they got including Motorsport. Instead, they gone straight off 9Gem/9Go with the Live tag below it which isn’t uniquely WWOS & more like a copycat coverage of Seven or Ten, who airs racing way long enough & very well than Nine. I have also emailed my concerns to Stan about it a few months ago & although they took note of it but then they never listen. Maybe that’s because Nine & Stan are only showing it on the air & not have complete control in-house, which is under SpeedSeries itself.

There is also talk about next season’s broadcast lately since Motorsport Australia will now handle the media side of things rather than the Australian Racing Group, having taken half the control of SpeedSeries ARG that began at the start of 2023. Maybe the exit of Supercars Media running the production with the TV trucks control & graphics before the 2023 season started has probably caused Nine to revert to the 9Gem/9Go logo rather than the WWOS logo which was previously used for most of last year except Round 1. Now there is a chance that Nine as an exclusive rights holder may not be back next season.

If they’re really coming back, then great. If there is plenty of SpeedSeries articles up on the WWOS website which happens regularly, so why can’t this be extended on TV? Let’s hope it finally happens if Nine/Stan stays on. If not, we could see SpeedSeries go to Seven & Fox Sports or Ten/Paramount +. Regardless of that, the balance of having both paid & free content is here to stay that needs to cover the $$$ back to all types of participants involved as they will be back to set even more breakthroughs in 2024.

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Nathan Herne outstanding in 2022 in the Trans-Am while Tony D’Alberto took home the TCR Australia title as this SpeedSeries season all ends here at Bathurst International

by Admin

The Bathurst International was held this weekend, and boy oh boy it did not disappoint. For those who don’t know, the Bathurst International is a weekend with plenty of racing in a lot of different categories. So let’s look over the highlights from the Trans-Am and TCR Australia.

In the Trans-Am, Nathan Herne took the pole position for Race 1, and managed to hang on to it for a great win for him and Team Valvoline. He managed to hold off the Supercheap Auto of Nash Morris, as well as the TPS Caravans of Brett Holdsworth and the Garry Rogers car piloted by Owen Kelly. After a less than ideal practice, Benjamin Grice made a fantastic recovery and was in the top 10 by lap 3. However, the Safety Car was brought out for a spin by Zach Losicalpo at Murray’s Corner, where he became beached. At the end of Race 1, Nathan Herne took the top step of the podium, with Owen Kelly and Holdsworth completing the top 3.

In Race 2, Nathan Herne could not be stopped and stormed to another win. It was a front-row lockout for the Garry Rogers Mustangs, but an error from Owen Kelly at Hell Corner allowed Herne to pull away, with Holdsworth getting racy with Kelly at Griffin’s Bend. There was a shunt between the SupaFSeries Mustang and the Chevy of John Holinger at Forrest’s Elbow. Zach Loscialpo made a great recovery from last on the grid, crossing the line in 11th place. Herne took the second win of the weekend, with Holdsworth in second, but contact at the high-speed Chase corner between Morris and Kelly allowed Lochie Dolton to finish the podium.

In the Turtle Wax 100, Nathan Herne once again took the chequered flag to round off his hat-trick of wins this weekend. There were some mega drives, with Aaron Teb and Jack Sipp up 11 and 8 places respectively. Even though Grice was still recovering from a crash in Practice, he was challenging in the top 5 throughout. Lochie Dalton got a bit too confident at the chase, beaching his car and bringing out a short Safety Car period. On the final lap, Robert Noaker had to roll into the pits with power loss, with Herne finishing first, with Ben Grice in second and Nash Morris in third to round off a great race and a great weekend of racing.

In the TCR, the opener was a great way to start off this weekend. Young hotshot Bailey Sweeney met the chequered flag first. For most of the title contenders it was a race to forget, riddled with retirements and struggle. It was an eventful race, with lots of great battles in the midfield. Kangaroos brought out the safety car on lap 12, which bunched the field up for even more close racing. At the restart, King passed Cox into 10th position, which is essential for his title hopes. Hanson had a heavy shunt at Reid Park, but emerged relatively unharmed. At the flag, it was Sweeny from O’Keeffe and Morcom to round off the top 3.

Will Brown won the final TCR race of the weekend, but missed out on the title. That honour went to Tony D’Alberto, who took the 2022 TCR Australia Championship. Will Brown put in all the effort, with some spectacular overtakes to put himself in the lead, but D’Alberto managed to maintain 11th to give him enough points to clinch the title. There were plenty of battles throughout with a few scrapes and retirements. The top 3 were Will Brown, Bailey Sweeny and Josh Buchan, with D’Alberto taking the title by 2 points.

What a great weekend the Bathurst International turned out to be, but next year will definitely be even better! See you then!

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2022 ARG SpeedSeries RD 5: Nathan Herne completes clean sweep in the Trans-Am while the Honda duo of Tony D’Alberto & Zac Soutar dominated yet again in Race 3 after Jay Hanson won Race 2 in the TCR Australia at Queensland Raceway

by Sports Benches

It’s good to see a mix of new front runners earlier today during Race 2 of TCR Australia, especially when Michael Caruso led for the majority from reverse pole in the No.10 Alfa Romeo Giuietta, after the original polesitter Lachlan Mineeff (No.14 MPC Audi RS3) had to start from pit lane. 

Sadly, a mechanical issue cost Caruso the win he desperately wanted to for Ashley Seward Motorsport which was a huge blow. That paves the way for Jay Hanson, who made plenty of spots through the field, before he chased down his Melbourne Performance Centre team-mate Will Brown in a battle of the best Audis (RS3) for the win. 

Then we move onto Race 3 where Hanson remained running inside the Top 3, but couldn’t get past both Hondas where they have dominated once again. Tony D’Alberto had an amazing weekend at Queensland Raceway with 2 of out 3 wins for Wall Racing ahead of Zac Soutar, who finished 2nd twice in both Race 1 from yesterday & Race 3 earlier this afternoon.

And there’s still a lot of thrills and spills being spun across the race track over in the Trans-Am. But what hasn’t changed is Nathan Herne controlling the entire grid after he completed a clean sweep all weekend long in the No.1 Ford Mustang for Garry Rogers Motorsports. 

Good to see his team-mate Owen Kelly rebound from the opening lap trouble in Race 1 yesterday with back-to-back third places today, while Jett Johnson never looked out of place in the Top 3-4. And Supercars regular Brodie Kostecki just completed his one-off stint in the No.66 Chevy Camaro here; he finished 6th earlier in Race 2 after a stellar start yesterday in 3rd during Race 1 before he added another podium this time in 2nd in Race 3. We wish Brodie all the best as we hope to see him fulfill his ambitions in the NASCAR Cup Series, even if it’s a partial ride effort next year.

What a weekend it has been at Queensland Raceway after three long years when they last hosted there before COVID got in the way. We can’t wait for Sandown Raceway in Melbourne on the 14-16th next month, with two rounds left in this year’s ARG SpeedSeries season.

For now, make sure you sign up a seven-day Stan Sport free trial right now on top of the usual $10 basic subscription to catch up every race live and ad-free alongside on-demand replays and highlights. It will also be another $10 for the Sports pack if you’re happy with their motorsports content such as IndyCar, Formula E, World Endurance Championship, World Rally Championship and Motocross beyond the seven days.

If not, Nine will continue to roll out a two-hour highlights package for free that looks back from this weekend’s event at Queensland Raceway. Tune in the following times on Thursday evening at 11pm-1am on 9Go, as well as Saturday 10am-12pm on 9Gem & next Sunday at 2-3.50 pm on 9Go.

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2022 ARG SpeedSeries RD 5: Thrills and spills being played out in Race 1 yesterday at Queensland Raceway with the Trans-Am and TCR Australia where both winners were too good all along from start to finish

by Sports Benches

Yesterday afternoon of ARG SpeedSeries racing at Queensland Raceway was full of twists and turns, where losing control or being collected into the gravel can cost you a few spots or even dearly. It changed the course of these opening respective races with the Trans-Am & TCR Australia.

We’ll start with the TCRs and what a day it has been for Tony D’Alberto in the No.50 Honda Civic Type-R for Wall Racing. Not only he set and started pole position but he too took the opening race win which was too easy from start to finish. While Zac Soutar would’ve love to have a close sniff of Tony and challenge him for top spot, but he‘s happy to finish 2nd also in the same Honda car & hopefully go one better for the next two Sunday races.

And it’s good to see Jay Hanson back on the podium in 3rd for the Melbourne Performance Centre organisation, as well as Bailey Sweeny in 5th behind Aaron Cameron (No.18 Peugeot 308 for Garry Rogers Motorsport) following an opening lap scare through the grass that cost him a few spots. Although, Sweeny’s team-mate Nathan Morcom was unlucky to be taken out by Ben Bargwanna into the gravel.

Then we go into Trans-Am where we also saw another driver who was too good with Nathan Herne in the No.1 Ford Mustang for Garry Rogers Motorsport. He has no problems getting the job done from pole position to dominating the entire field, especially when some drivers behind him was collected through the gravel on the opening lap. While some slip and spills continue across the race track, it’s great to see 17-year-old Jett Johnson finish 2nd after he got around Supercars regular Brodie Kostecki in 3rd with credit from these restarts. So awesome seeing Brodie spend the weekend here as he hopes to fulfil his NASCAR aspirations over in the US next year, especially when he was being linked with Trackhouse Racing’s 3rd part-time Cup car that has a specific focus on International drivers.

Can’t wait for Races 2 & 3 later today with TCR & Trans-Am to round off Round 5 of 7 in the 2022 SpeedSeries season.

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