Trans Tasman Racing – 2012 V8 Supercars Online Series Launch

Trans Tasman Racing launched their cars today from Round 1’s venue, Okayama. The driver line up will remain the same within the team. Madison Down, Troy Cox and Josh Muggleton will once again head the V8 Supercars Online Series line up with Wayne Cullen, Wayne Tolley, Tony Autridge and Beau Cubis also racing but not as regularly.

The Trans Tasman Racing Falcons have been completely revamped after 1 year of running the famous TT-R livery that took Down to 3 championship wins in 2011. However, unlike previous seasons, not all the drivers will be driving the same livery. Like many other teams have done, TT-R has also inverted the colour schemes on the liveries meaning that in top split Down, Cox and Muggleton will all feature a different looking TT-R livery.

“The cars look fantastic, all the drivers i’ve talked to love the look of them. KustomImage Workshop (Andrew Osier) has done a great job, especially considering the very short time frame we gave him. They are definitely one of, if not the best, looking liveries in the field!” Said Down

The team has taken on a new sponsor in the form of Hyper Stimulator. The car features the Hyper Stimulator logos on the front bonnet and the rear boot. The deal was made in a last minute effort, although there still may be more to see from this….

Trans Tasman Racing once again will be affiliated with Speedhunters Racing (Benjamin Mikhaiel and Russell Pepperell) and also Coles Racing (Ben Rothberg). Both of these teams will be sporting a TT-R logo on the rear quarter panel of the car. Although they are not a part of the official Trans Tasman Racing Team, they will be running Trans Tasman Racing chassis in the V8 Supercar Online Series Events.

Trans Tasman Racing will be a force to be reckoned with in 2012. The team is confident that all drivers can be competitive in their respective splits and run towards the front and possibly pick up some wins.

Trans Tasman Racing drivers Madison Down and Josh Muggleton were spotted walking around the paddock today at Okayama, both were confident that the results in 2011 could be improved in 2012.

“The Trans Tasman Racing cars have felt strong as always in pre-season testing. The competition is continuing to rise within the series so to keep up we need to drive better than ever. It’s great to see the V8 Supercars Online Series getting so competitive, definitely makes each week exciting for the drivers and the spectators.” Said Down

“Very excited for the upcoming season. A fresh start with a new look car. Hoping for some better luck this season and have been working hard on ironing out some costly errors on track. Hoping to give the leaders a serious shake and take that next step and start fighting for race wins.” Said Muggleton

Pictures from the Launch

Madison Down

Troy Cox

Josh Muggleton

Speed Hunters

Coles Racing (WIP)

Launch Video (Thanks to Bigfish, Benjamin Mikhaiel)

Trans Tasman Racing would like to thank Hyper Stimulator for their support and KustomImage Workshop (Andrew Osier) for the new striking liveries (Also for the Coles Livery for Ben Rothberg).

If you need a new livery for your team, KustomImage Workshop is the place for you! Contact Andrew Osier via email at kustomimage@gmail.com or through iRacing here – http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/CareerStats.do?custid=63751

Down currently leads the championship on 1898 points, only 77 points ahead of McLeod as the two share race wins from one week to another. Broekman although behind by just under 100 points, the dropping worst round rule could easily make up that difference.

The previous few races saw the top three contenders all fighting for their fair share of points, Madison Down grabbing a few more than McLeod and Broekman.

Brands Hatch was McLeod’s turn to grab a win and sharing the front row with Broekman having the exact same qualifying time of 1:26.122, McLeod’s iRating gave him pole. Down started in 3rd but was able to get passed Broekman to finish 2nd.

McLeod said “So pumped to get another win for Tatts.com Racing! This is what I need to have any chance to win the Championship back again.”

Okayama was also Down’s chance to shine and although starting in 3rd, Down was able to take a win while Broekman finished 2nd.  McLeod not having great pace found himself getting knocked around by other competitors, fondly referred to as the ‘fast bulldozer’, McLeod taking 6th.

Down said “Probably the most surprising victory of the season. Considering I wasn’t going to race and I drove with my new CSP pedals, which I was pretty nervous about, I was amazed to win.”

“I did have some luck to do it, but I took a risk with the 0 stopper and thankfully it paid off!”

Virginia International Raceway was a championship reflection, Down taking the win over McLeod then Broekman. Broekman initially in 2nd place ahead of McLeod but a small mistake flat spotted a tyre and gave McLeod the opportunity to grab 2nd.

Down said “Great round of racing tonight, the fight in race 2 for the lead was close. Although there wasn’t much door to door battling, the pressure being applied and the concentration needed was top notch.”

“Championship definitely hotting up in the final rounds. I pretty much can’t gain anymore but Mitch and Rens certainly can if they win the races. The winners of the next few races will decide the championship. Pressure is on!”

Last night saw race 10 in the series at Sebring, which this season is a night race just to make the already tricky circuit slight more difficult to steer around. Down had pole taking two tenths off his personal best time in the final qualifying session minutes before race start. Rens Broekman sat beside him while McLeod was right behind Down on row 2 beside Richard Hamstead.

Down led the field into the dark through turn 1, Broekman not close enough to challenge, while McLeod put the pressure on Broekman early but it wasn’t until lap 4 that he was able to make a pass and get into position to chase Down.

Richard Hamstead made a pass on Broekman in the early stages of the race and although Rens tried to get the position back, his race went downhill from there. In the later stages of the race Broekman simply spun trying to catch Hamstead and then was passed by Scott U’Ren and Stuart Wood after his car refused to do what he asked of it. Broekman’s tyres now as slippery as a 3am kebab, Rens went wide through turn one defending another position from Cal Whatmore where the two touched as Whatmore used all the road on the exit, Broekman ending up in the fence and then although rejoining, retired the exhausted car after coming off again a few corners later.

Up front McLeod was unable to catch Down who went on to take his third straight win.

Down said “Absolutely ecstatic with the win. My aim in these final rounds has obviously been to finish 1st as often as possible to try and clinch a 3rd championship.”

“Since we’re in to drop weeks and I don’t have any bad rounds anymore and Mitch still has some he could massively improve on I need to keep finishing as high up the order as possible. Going to be close at the finish though, that’s for sure!”

McLeod not happy with his setup said “I was hoping set up changes would help me keep up at the start, which I think worked, but after getting passed Rens my setup seemed to fall apart, understeer in, oversteer out, one small change had messed up the entire balance of the car, so I played with the anti roll bars for a few laps and got a feeling I was half happy with, but still wasn’t enough to close the gap. Madison was just too good.”

Split two was won by Richard Hunter and split 3 Jon Latham.

The final two rounds are at Mid-Ohio and the final at Road Atlanta.

The Teams Championship is also tight with Tatts.com Racing on 401 currently having the edge over Trans Tasman Racing on 393.

Along with the other 19 top finishers in Round 2 of the Intel GT Series, McLean now moves on to the Regional Finals, which has been rescheduled for Saturday, January 7, 2011 at 9pm AEST (11:00 GMT).   The 20 finalists will compete in a single 30 minute race at Spa in their HPD-AR01Cs, with the top eight finishers qualifying for the Intel GT Series World Finals.

20 iRacers qualified for the Intel GT Series Africa/Asia/Australia Regional Finals.

In addition to McLean, the regional finalists include Ben Cornett (Aus/NZ), Madison Down (Aus/NZ), Darren Marsh (Aus/NZ), Danny Davidson (Aus/NZ), Ian Travis (Auz/NZ), Yudai Narumi (International), Yuho Abe (International), Vail Riches (Aus/NZ), Christian Aylward (Aus/NZ), Dylan Sharman (Aus/NZ), Tatsuro Hashimoto (International), Zaahir A Essa (International), Minoru Kai (International),  Masafumi Aburame (International), Takeshi Shibuki (International), Dan Green (Aus/NZ), Kazutomo Yano (International), Toshinobu Shigemitsu (International) and Tim Guihot (Aus /NZ).

Rounds Three (Europe) and Four (South America) of the Intel GT series are set for January 17-23 and February 7-13, respectively. The top eight finishers in each of the Regional Finals will qualify for the Intel GT Series World Finals, to coincide with the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship in March, 2012.

Madison Down when asked was ecstatic to be in the Regional Final. “It’s awesome to be racing against Australia and New Zealand’s best sim racers. I would’ve never dreamed I would’ve been racing toe to toe with guys like McLean and Cornett. Hopefully we can go one better and finish in the top 8 in about a week’s time in the finals.”

Qualifying was once again a close affair. Mitchell McLeods took pole by less than a thousandth of a second ahead of nfinity eSports teammate Rens Broekman who also qualified with a 1:26.122. Trans Tasman Racing’s Madison Down was a close 3rd with a 1:26.202. Troy Cox qualified 10th and Wayne Tolley 11th respectively just half a second behind the pole sitter.

Madison Down got a great start, but had no where to go with it heading into turn 2. The field was tightly packed with almost all of the drivers two wide until turn 4. Down and Broekman fighting to the death coming off turn 4 made contact putting Down out onto the grass. As he rejoined they were 3 wide with a hard charging Richard Hamstead taking an opportunistic move through the middle and up into 2nd!

Further back in the field Troy Cox made a great start and avoided contact in the opening lap much to his delight after a carnage packed lap 1 in the earlier race.

On lap 3 Down made the move on Hamstead into turn 2. Hamstead left space and the move was executed cleanly. Down now with the eyes on set chase after the Tatts.com Falcon of Mitchell McLeod.

Meanwhile, Troy Cox was having a fantastic battle with Paul Larkin that would eventually last the entire race due to the difficult nature of Brands Hatch. Passing is not an easy feat at the historic circuit.

With 5 laps to go Down had caught McLeod and was really starting to apply the blow torch. The sniff of victory was definitely there. On the penultimate lap, Down got a fantastic run off turn 1 down the hill into turn 2, the #1 TT-R Falcon dived for the move, the two made contact! However Mitch had kept the Tatts.com Falcon in the lead of the motor race despite the attack. It was going to be a gripping final lap. Down clearly hoping to do the same again next lap at turn 2 was not close enough, it was going to be a tough ask from here to win the race. But the two were no more than a metre apart for the rest of the lap as Down stuck to the back of McLeod’s car through the GP layout of the circuit. McLeod made a mistake into the penultimate corner giving Down a run into the final corner, but it was not to be.

Mitchell McLeod took the win which was absolutely critical in the championship standings. Madison Down still leads the series, but after the drop weeks come into effect Mitchell McLeod will certainly launch up the order.

Troy Cox finished a strong 8th after a race long battle with Paul Larkin. The gap at the line was miniscule.

Team admin Madison Down was elated with the teams performance at Brands Hatch “The team had some awesome pace this week, to have the results we did it was great. A 2nd and an 8th in top split is always great. Unfortunately for Wayne, he ran into some troubles in 2nd split but his pace was blindingly fast putting the car in 11th for the week in qualifying. Wayne is definitely punching above his weight at the moment, it would be great for him to be in top split where he belongs.”

The race can be watched at www.v8sonline.com.au

Round 8 is at Okayama but due to the round being on boxing day attendance may not be as high as usual.

Down took pole with a 2:03.511, Rens Broekman along side while Mitchell McLeod sat behind Down in 3rd.

Down got a great start and led the field easily into turn one followed by Broekman, while Richard Hamstead got a good start from 4th and looked on the inside of Broekman for turn one, Broekman defended heavily forcing Hamstead out of the move but was in a good position to at least grab third from McLeod.

Simon Madden and Joshua Muggleton were also close off the start and after almost hitting doors on the straight, Madden took the outside line into turn one but carried too much speed into the tightening turn 2. Tapping the rear quarter of Muggleton who then carried a spin into the back of McLeod, although McLeod was very lucky to keep the car from spinning after a huge full lock slide, Tatts.com team mate Scott U’Ren pulling in behind him putting them in 5th and 6th.

“Having so many cars behind me full lock on lap 1 wasn’t ideal, but worked out not too bad.” McLeod said.

McLeod was then on the attack to get some position back, Madden the first in line and lap 4 he took Madden on the inside of the hairpin to grab back 4th. By this stage the next car was almost the full length of the main straight off in the distance so McLeod had his work cut out for him.

Hamstead hung on the back of Broekman determined to get 2nd, while Down just kept pulling away lap after lap. McLeod made up the huge gap to catch-up to the Hamstead, Broekman battle and was able to get back into the podium position after Hamstead rang wide and spun through the high speed 5th gear turn 15. Hamstead recovered from the spin to stay in 5th but was straigh away under fire from Madden.

Four laps later and U’Ren had caught up to Madden who was still battling hard with Hamstead, Madden than attempt to pass into the hairpin resulting in Hamstead spinning and U’Ren capitalizing driving passed the two stationary cars to grab 4th after starting in 8th.

Up front McLeod was on a charge, Broekman finally buckling under the pressure running wide into turn 1, McLeod took 2nd and was now out to catch Down.

Behind Hamstead’s luck hadn’t changed and was now in a fearsome exchange of damage with Corey Slade, both drivers trading blows, Slade later admitting that some of the exchange was deliberate retaliation, the situation now possibly under review.

After passing Broekman, McLeod was unable to reduce the gap and Madison Down went on to take another convincing win finishing just over 8 seconds ahead, Broekman finishing 3rd followed by U’Ren and Madden.

McLeod: “Had some really close hard racing tonight with a few different guys, managed to work my way back up to 2nd again so was pretty happy with that!”

Down: “Great to pick up another win at suzuka, love the track, suits my driving style very well.”

Madison leads the championship on 1426 points, Broekman 85 points back while U’Ren now in 3rd and McLeod some 250 points behind the championship leader.

Next race heads to Brands Hatch as we head into the second half of the final 2011 season.

Watch the full race at http://www.v8sonline.com.au

12:56 AM Tue 13 December, 2011Source: BigPond Sport

Madison Down started from pole, a number of places ahead of the previous qualifying result with a 1:30.571, Mitchell McLeod beside him on the front row with a 30.671 and Shane van Gisbergen right behind on 30.686, Simon Madden and Rens Broekman completing the top 5 qualifiers.

Down led the field into turn one and immediately was looking to make a gap on his fellow race contenders knowing that his tyre wear wasn’t up to par with van Gisbergen’s and being an enduro, pit stop would come into play during the race.

The opening laps Down started to edge ever so slightly ahead of McLeod, van Gisbergen right behind in 3rd, Joshua Muggleton jumping up from 6th to 4th, getting passed Simon Madden and Rens Broekman in the opening lap.

Lap 5 and much to the surprise of Down who heard the ‘bang’ behind him, McLeod detonated an engine, seemingly grabbing a few too many gears on the downshift and he was out of the race. Down knew that this meant the inevitable pressure from van Gisbergen was not far away and continued to push to try and maintain the lead gap.

McLeod; “The plan was minimise the gap early on, which I think I was starting to hold the gap at about 1.5 seconds then BAM! A few quick colourful words and the race was over.”

“Not too sure how it happened to be honest, I didn’t feel like I did anything differently to any other lap, I always use first gear there so wasn’t like I went down too many, just must of always been on the limit, then went passed that limit during the race.”

van Gisbergen pitted early on lap 15 to try and get the edge on the leader but instead copped a penalty and dropped back through the pack, Down leaving it to lap 19 mid way through the race to repeat a previously proven strategy.

The remaining Tatts.com Racing driver Scott U’Ren was having an up and down race after wondering off the track at turn 9 but was then battling with van Gisbergen who got passed at lap 27 but then made a small mistake into Honda Hairpin which U’Ren was able to use to grab 4th back again.

Up front Down was unchallenged in the remaining part of the race and went on the take the win with a 15 second gap back to Rens Broekman and TTR team mate Joshua Muggleton, Scott U’Ren and Shane van Gisbergen finishing 4th and 5th respectively.

Down acknowledging the battle that could have been, “Great job by Rens to finish 2nd and bad luck to Mitchell McLeod and Shane van Gisbergen on their misfortunes. Would’ve made for an awesome battle for the lead if the issues didn’t occur.”

Down banking 265 points puts him at the top on 959 but McLeod taking only 6 points drops him the 6th place in the championship and will no doubt be looking for a big fight back in the next few races.

Next race is 25 laps around the famous Silverstone International circuit.

Source: BigPond Sport, V8 Supercars Official website (www.v8supercars.com.au/onlineseries
Vern Norrgard

Mitchell McLeod took pole position with a 1:10.885, followed by Rens Broekman, Richard Hamstead and Madison Down starting in 4th.

McLeod easily leads through turn one while Broekman follows in 2nd, Down taking an outside line to run alongside Hamstead which sets him up to take the podium spot through the uphill turn 3.

Michael McCabe returning to the series after sitting out a few seasons didn’t get off the line and pulled over to the side of the track but was then able to continue and began a fight through from the back of the field.

Lap 2 and Down made a rare mistake sliding the back of the car through the 6th gear turn three and hitting the outside Armco, losing a small amount of time to Broekman but continuing with mostly cosmetic damage.

McCabe was starting to make his way back through the field over taking Jason Madigan who then spun trying to hold an outside line.

A third of the way into the race and although McLeod was still in the lead, there was only a second gap between the top three, Broekman right on his bumper and Down at a safe viewing distance, while the ‘Speedy Refrigeration’ team mates Hamstead and Cal Whatmore were sitting only a second behind the top three.

Lap 11 of 30 and at the Bus Stop chicane, Broekman got loose exiting the allowing Down just enough room to get on the inside for turn 5 taking 2nd place. Broekman all over the back of Down along the back straight, swaying from side to side deciding on which side to attack but instead pulling in behind as they braked for the next turn.

Broekman then shocked to see Down again make an uncharacteristic mistake, understeering into the corner running wide onto the grass. As his Falcon slide one direction and then almost 180 the other way, Broekman took back the position as well as Hamstead and Whatmore inheriting 3rd and 4th.

The race leader’s Tatt’s.com Racing team mate Scott U’Ren had passed Joshua Muggleton for 7th, after starting 6th but dropping to 8th on the opening lap, he was now behind Down and sensed an opportunity to pass the wounded TT-R Falcon. Down defended not with car position but with pure pace and after a few side by side attempts to pass, eventually U’Ren got passed and Down dropped another spot to 6th which was where he finished.

McLeod had a comfortable lead with Broekman losing time from his battle with Down and then needing to defend against Hamstead and Whatmore, although Broekman edged closer in the ending laps, McLeod took a comfortable win. Broekman finishing in second and Hamstead taking 3rd. U’Ren passed Whatmore in the closing stages to take 4th, Whatmore 5th.

Madison Down not taking away the points he waiting by finishing in 6th, while Paul Larkin, Joshua Muggleton, Corey Slade and Shaun Kelly completing the top ten.

McLeod taking 240 gives him a championship lead on 703, although Down only 9 points behind on 694 while Richard Hamstead sits in 3rd place with 642 points.

Next race heads to Phillip Island where the series moves to endurance mode with 38 laps around the series home circuit. To join the online series, you just need a PC, wheel and pedal set and jump into iRacing.com. Don’t forget to enter “PR-BigPond” on the Subscription page, buy one month, get two free.

Source: www.v8supercars.com.au/onlineseries
Vern Norrgard

Last weekend Craig was once again lucky enough to snare a drive for Nympho Motorsport in the ‘Peter Brock Memorial Bathurst 1000′ race held by JFF-Racing (just for fun racing)
Unlike last time he raced with Nympho Motorsport where the drive was organized well before the ‘SimRacer 1000′ event, this desperate call to drive from team owner Nifty was only a week out from the race leaving little time to practice with a mod that is not familiar to him the, V8 unleashed v1.1 mod.

On the day as the time ticked down and qualifying drew nearer, more than 36 drivers (18 cars) all hurried to get there setups sorted, there driver swaps just right, and of course ..stop there pc’s playing up…It’s strange but ‘The Mountain’ always seems to throw in its own little twists and turns in on these events and this time was no different.

Qualifying/ Race Start
The Nympho Motorsport boys were experiencing there own difficulties with #1 driver and Nympho’s owner Nifty having major frame rate issues throughout official practice forcing him into no other choice but to ask Craig to Qualify the car and start the race.
In a field of 18 cars with many capable drivers Craig was happy to be able put the car on the second row of the grid in a respectable 4th postion behind 1st-ozSquizza 2nd-Webber 3rd-ORA-Pits. Unfortunatly the race start was marred by a server glitch that had mixed the grid positions up and so 4 laps into the race it was called there would be a ‘re-start’, this is usually frowned upon in most communities as it is at JFF although given the time and effort drivers and co-drivers alike had put into the lead up of this event, this on the fly desision made by the JFF admin was definitely the right thing to do and was agreed apon by most drivers.

Re-Start
The re-start goes off without a glitch, and apart from webber disappearing off the grid to start in the pit lane everyone got off cleanly. Webbers dissapearance directly infront of Craig’s car only moments before the flag dropped had obviously rattled him as he thought the car of webbers was still there but not visible, this affected his braking into turn 1 putting 2 wheels on the grass on the exit loosing the run and 3 positons up mountain straight. From then on Craig drove the wheels off the #38 Nypho Falcon in his first stint clawing back the positions lost to him in turn 1..and some, bringing the car in after 21 laps running in 2nd.
A quick driver swap and Nifty in the car still with minor frame rate issues and an intermitent accelerator pedal glitch was able to circulate at good pace given what he had to work with throughout his stint. The pace from both drivers enabled the boys to hold down 3rd (as Webber had already come through the field) for most of the evening only being leap-frogged by Stickyrubbers on pitstops, this was ok but as the race drew closer to the end it was evident that there was need for some clever strategy by the Nympho Motorsport crew to keep the car of Stick behind them in the last pitstop, so the numbers were crunched and the game was on!
There was less than 60 laps to run, the team had some fuel up there sleeve due to the long stints the setup’s good tyre wear had enabled them, so as Craig comes in from his 2nd last stint he drops fuel from the car and sends Nifty out for a double stint allowing himself the final run to the line. Nifty drives the car like a mad man as craig does more fuel calculations, after a nail bitting stint Nifty again comes in for a short tank of fuel, however this time he exits the pits with Stickyrubbers car in reach…he again drives the wheels off the car eventually taking back 3rd and proceeds to form a gap.

The Run Home
At this stage there is 100+ spectators in the server watching this race and who wouldn’t be? There was a ding dong battle going on for the Top Spot up the front and not to far back there was the battle between Nympho’s PAPAOSA and ORA’s StickyRubbers going down to the wire for 3rd. Webber and ozSquizza had some small moments as the race got intense towards the end, however it was Sticky trying to chase down PAPAOSA that the crowd was watching, for 10 laps Sticky drove hard and fast to try and make up the 7 sec gap on Craig but to no availe..The #38 Nympho Motorsport FG Falcon of Nifty and PAPAOSA comes In 3rd, behind Squizza in 1st Webber 2nd and Sticky close behind in 4th.(1.2sec)

Wrap-up

” This would have to be without a doubt the best race event i’ve ever had a chance to be apart of in my short time sim-racing, the professional way the whole event was run by the guys at JFF, the amount of quality drivers from many different online communities from all over Australia, and of course being able to come away with my second podium finish in a full-length (161 laps) race in such a stella field of drivers..totally awesome!”

Craig

Competition is certainly looking to tighten up again this season and nothing could represent this better than the two cars sitting on the front row, championship winners sharing the grid separated by hundreds of a second.

Madison Down took pole with a 1:18.230, Mitchell McLeod with almost an identical time of 1:18.260, behind the front row was Richard Hamstead and Rens Broekman. Representative of the front row, Down’s TT-R team mate Joshua Muggleton was on row 3 beside McLeod’s Tatts Online team mate Scott U’Ren.

Lewis Dodimead unfortunately having technical issues and did not start until a few laps in.

Red light on, the rev’s climbed and the launched into season 4, Down led the field into turn one comfortably while McLeod looked to be challenged by Hamstead but he pulled back in behind McLeod to resume 3rd.

Broekman along with Joshua Muggleton, Scott U’Ren and Cal Whatmore all piled into turn 2 side by side without as much as a touch while just outside the top ten John Emerson tried to stay on the outside of Richard Lock and Paul Larkin resulting in Larkin hitting the grass and softly tagging the wall, able to rejoin at the back of the field. Jamie Skella dived into the inside of Samuel Collins in turn 3 resulting in contact on the rear quarter spinning Collins onto the grass.

Muggleton early on the throttle slid onto the main straight needing a big lift off the throttle losing two spots to Whatmore and U’Ren and was then challenged side by side for a number of corners with Michael Clark, Muggleton eventually keeping the spot. Clark was then passed by Beau Cubis into turn 3 with a little tap sending Clark wide loosing another spot to Stuart Wood.

Lap 2, McLeod is focused on attacking Down looking for a race leading pass but instead ran wide, understeering through the corner and dropping the front left into the dirt through Moss corner and left it side open for Hamstead to take 2nd place.

Lap 6 and John Emerson put a challenge on Mitchell Boulton up the back straight and into turn 8 but instead ended up off the corner and across the grass re-joining behind the recovering Samuel Collins.

Lap 8 and while Down was upfront drawing a bit of a gap, McLeod was hard on the back of Hamstead, concerned of Down pulling away was determined to get his second position back and after tucking up behind Hamstead as they dropped downhill into turn 4 he pulled out under brakes into turn 5 to grab the position back. Hamstead didn’t give up without a fight and McLeod confirmed his pass on the exit of turn 6.

Lap 14 and Jamie Skella, Mitchell Boulton, John Emerson and Samuel Collins where fighting hard at the back end of the field.

Lap 15 Rens Broekman had now caught up to Hamstead, Hamstead running wide into turn 8 gave Broekman a look in and although he didn’t make the pass there, the two went side by side through 9 and into 10 where Hamstead gave up the position. Hamstead still getting a good run off the last corner then challenged into turn one but without getting far into the corner he tagged the back of Broekman’s Falcon sending him into the tyre wall, Broekman rejoined the race in front of Richard Lock to stay in the top ten.

With Broekman out of the way, U’Ren pounced on Hamstead exiting turn one and positioned himself for a pass into turn two, grabbing 3rd. The following lap Hamstead was keen to get the podium spot back but after attempting a pass into turn 8, ran wide and gave another spot away to Whatmore who was now in 4th after starting 7th.

Muggleton racing hard with Beau Cubis but after making a small mistake off turn one, found himself instead under pressure from Stuart Wood. Muggleton then become another victim of Moss corner and ran wide just dropping the rear tyres into the dirt, enough to turn the car around, losing two spots to Wood and Michael Clark.

Up front Madison Down continued to put an almost uncatchable gap between himself and his rival McLeod.

Lap 18 and Skella ran wide through turn one giving a spot to Kevin Duwel, dropping him out of the Boulton, Emerson and Collins battle but a lap later and the battle came to an end. Boulton ran just slightly wide out of turn one dropping his rear tyre which instantly turned the car sideways and heavily into the inside wall, bouncing the car and spinning it widely across the track, amazingly avoided by everyone following.

Ahead of this battle BigPond Sport’s Vern Norrgard had caught up to George Fullerton and after Fullerton had managed to protect his position for most of the race, a slip up through turn one gave Norrgard the slight chance he needed to get the spot to take 12th after starting 17th.

Final lap the Down was still dominating up front while Broekman and Muggleton continued their same fight that was previously in 4th and 5th, but now down in 9th and 10th. Muggleton entered turn 8 with his rear tyres locked twitching the car left and right and was unable to pull up the unsettled car and dropped off the circuit giving 9th to Broekman.

Muggleton, now only two corner from the finish probably thought his bad luck had come to an end but instead found himself heading straight for the side of Jernej Zorec’s stranded Falcon in the middle of the second last corning, heavily t-boning Zorec. Muggleton still managed to limp the car to the finish line, blown engine and all.

Down went on the take a convincing win, 5.2 seconds ahead of McLeod’s Tatts Online Falcon. Scott U’Ren finished on the podium, Cal Whatmore and Richard Hamstead completed the top 5.

Down; “Focused on keeping my lap times consistent and avoid destroying the front tyres. Luckily I did and my setup held up sooo well. Best Mosport set i’ve had.”

McLeod; “I pushed hard so Madison could see I was pushing hard, hoping that would pressure him in to a mistake, but of course, that didn’t happen and he went on to take a well deserved victory.”

The drivers then met up on the start finish line to mirror a tribute to MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli, lining the cars up on the grid and having a moment of noise.

In the lower splits Paul Rodgers took split 2, Wayne G Hewitt spilt 3 and Jay Kennedy in split 4.

Source: www.v8supercars.com.au/onlineseries
Vern Norrgard – BigPond Sport

Josh Muggleton an IT worker at a Sydney High School recently picked up his first V8 Supercar Online Series win in the inaugral Sebring night race. Josh also finished a strong 3rd in the Australian GT Academy National finals. There is no denying that Josh is a talented racer that will definitely fit in well with the existing drivers at Trans Tasman Racing.

Beau Cubis a newcomer to iRacing but not to sim racing also has been finishing strongly in the V8 Supercar Online Series. Beau made his debut in the series at Sebring in Season 3 (the race that Josh won) and ironically got involved in an incident with TT-R driver Madison Down. However, the official main race was much better for Beau finishing 4th on debut in top split. His recent top 5 results have proven that Beau will be a force to be reckoned with in Season 4. Like Josh, Beau is also an accomplished Gran Turismo 5 racer with hours of league racing experience with Australian league RaceOnOz.

Team admin Madison Down when asked was itching to get into Season 4 racing with the new team. “It’s always great going into a new season, but to do it with 2 new capable drivers on the team that will no doubt be fighting for podiums in Season 4 is awesome. I can’t wait for the season to kick off at Mosport with more TT-R cars on the grid!”

Over the coming days Josh and Beau will be settling into TT-R hopefully getting comfortable in the new cars for season 4! Trans Tasman Racing will be even stronger this season than ever before but the team will only grow stronger with rumours of more existing TT-R drivers looking at either returning to iRacing or purchasing iRacing. Question is, when and who will be joining next…..