THE 2017 Toyota 86 Series has been a rough road for Bathurst’s Dylan Gulson but as the halfway point arrives this weekend he’s hopeful it can mark the beginning of a positive run.
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That’s because, from Friday, the third round of the series makes its way to Sydney Motorsport Park.
Gulson has enjoyed many laps at the track in the past, through racing and testing, and that familiarity with the circuit will be valuable as he searches for his first top 10 finish of the season.
Cracking that top 10 would give Gulson the perfect lead in to his home round at Bathurst in October.
Gulson has enjoyed encouraging moments this year but has had to settle for best finishes of 18th (Phillip Island) and 16th (Townsville) across his two rounds to date.
The Bathurst driver wants to start his second half of the season on the front foot when practice and qualifying take place on Friday.
“It’s like my second home track,” Gulson said of SMP.
“I’m looking forward to this after a disappointing round at Townsville, but after that opening round at Phillip Island I was just happy to get the car back in one piece.
“We had a testing day in Sydney about a week ago and the car was running quicker there than it had been all year. I feel like if we don’t get into the top 10 here then we’d have to be doing something very wrong.
“Track knowledge is one of the big things for me here, and that gives you a lot of confidence. We didn’t have many testing days earlier in the year and I think that cruelled us at Townsville.”
Gulson aiming to finish this season off on a high and repeat his run from 2016.
At last year’s equivalent round in Sandown Gulson managed to finish all his races inside the top 10, despite it being his first time seeing the track.
In the process he pushed himself the championship’s top 10.
Track knowledge is one of the big things for me here, and that gives you a lot of confidence.
- Dylan Gulson
Gulson has the opportunity to make history repeat as he heads to Sydney Motorsport Park in 15th place.
“There’s been a couple of small wheel changes to get used to but the amount of laps we’ve done will be really handy,” Gulson said.
“We’ve had the chance to trial a lot of different things with the car.
“I’d be really happy if I could get myself into the top 10 by the end of the year again. We’ve got Sydney, Bathurst and then the big unknown, Newcastle, still to go so it should be a good battle. It’s looking good for us going into the back half of the year.”
Jimmy Vernon (470 points) holds a commanding lead in the series, with Cameron Hill (334) and Dylan Thomas (324) the next best in the field.
Gulson sits on 190 points, 82 adrift of the current 10th place holder Warren Luff.
