It was not the perfect end to his debut season, but overall Dylan Gulson was pleased with his eighth placed finish in the Toyota 86 Series.
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A mix of interesting weather and a first time experience on a street circuit made for a challenging weekend, at the Homebush Street Circuit at Sydney Olympic Park
“It was very different to anything I’ve raced on, with the concrete barriers,” Gulson said.
“It was very hot in the car and I was lucky the races were short.
“We didn’t have the weekend we hoped for and we fell behind after a few practices.”
Gulson said he was in the “wrong place” in the first race, after his car was involved in a crash.
Gulson had qualified 12th and had climbed his way up to 10th, before crashing out.
Race two continued Gulson's unlucky weekend, after a car pileup on the first lap resulted on a red flag.
Gulson was lucky enough not to be involved in the seven car crash, with the race being declared a non-event.
Race three provided Gulson with an incident-free drive, as he finished 20th.
He managed a race time of 15:22.6015 across eight laps.
His fastest lap in race three was 1:51.6950.
Going into the final event of the season, Gulson was ranked sixth in the overall standings.
Ultimately, Gulson finished eighth after an eventful weekend.
“The result was not the worst, but it could’ve been better,” he said.
“It was a great experience and I was happy to finish in the top ten, in my first full series of national racing.
“I think this year has set us up for a strong performance next year.
“Our goal is to try and battle for a series win next year.”
Gulson was also awarded the Kaizen rising star award on the weekend, after a strong debut season.
Kaizen is a Japanese buisness philosophy of continuous improvement and the award also comes with a fully-funded drive from Toyota, in one of the New Zealand Toyota 86 Series next year.