Kelso Electrical Racing claimed a C class category endurance win in the 2017 NSW Motor Race Championship, at Eastern Creek’s Sydney Motorsport Park on Sunday.
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Team driver Brad Schumacher finished 31 seconds ahead of his class’ closest rival – Alaine O’Connor of O’Connor Racing Team – to claim the victory.
It was an impressive result, considering Schumacher was behind the eight ball early.
“We lost the lead at the start, two spots off first, but we were able to gain them back over a period of 40 minutes of racing,” he said.
“We went into the pit spot around the 40th minute and unfortunately it took a bit longer then we expected.
“One car over took us and it took about 15 seconds longer to get back out there. We went back out and we found good speed on the new tyres.
“We took the lead back and the result puts us on top of the leader board of our class.”
Schumacher and the Kelso Electrical Racing team went up against a wide variety of cars including Porsche, Aston Martin, BMW, Audi, Ginetta and Mazda.
His Lotus Elise was the same car that was used in the Bathurst Challenge in November, 2016.
The fourth round of the championship begun on Friday, with practice.
Two qualifying rounds were held on the Saturday morning, before two 20 minute sprint races in the afternoon.
The endurance race on Sunday lasted for one hour.
“We got off to a slow start in practice and quality. The front end suspension was having issues – it was under steering.
“We ended up founding balance and ironed out the issues and found some speed.”
Schumacher and the Kelso Electrical Racing team finished first, in their class, in both qualifiers.
Schumacher drove the Lotus Exige to a first place finish in the first sprint race.
“In that race we took off and kept in front the entire race. In the second sprint, it was a hefty battle. In the final lap we took back the lead and won in our class,” he said.
He also explained that the championship is similar to the Bathurst 12 Hour, with separate categories – GT, A, B and C.
Kelso Electrical Racing team will now will have a break from motor sport until August, where the team will compete at Wakefield Park, in Goulburn, for the fifth round of the championship.
The round at Wakefield Park will be held over August 12 and 13.
Another round in the Sydney Motor Sport Park in the middle of September, followed by a round at Phillip Island, on the final weekend of November, which will conclude the championship.
Schumacher thanked team’s sponsors.