FROM being “absolutely gutted” to one of their proudest days in the Australian Production Cars series – Bathurst’s Aubin brothers certainly had a mixed weekend at Winton.
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Kyle and Blake Aubin headed to the third round of the national series holding the outright lead in Class C, having enjoyed a good run with their Renault Megane.
It was a lead they looked set to strengthen as, after a strong qualifying session from Blake, the Aubins were frontrunners in their class in the first of two, two-hour races for the round on Saturday.
But it was not to be yet another podium for the pair. A mechanical issue meant they were unable to even finish the race.
“Class pole position, leading the class with 45 minutes to go in race one and the turbo decided to destroy itself resulting in a DNF,” they posted on Facebook.
“Massive dent to the championship … absolutely gutted for the sponsors and team.”
Calum Jones and Colin Osborne went on to claim class honours in that race in their Renault while the Aubin brothers and their crew worked frantically back in the pits to salvage their round.
READ MORE: Aubins enjoy a clean sweep
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They made it to the grid on Sunday and with Kyle behind the wheel, he picked his way through the field. He went from the rear to 13th in six laps – an improvement of eight spots.
After pitting on lap 39, Blake took over and enjoyed a handy lead over their nearest rivals – Osborne and Jones.
Wisely he then made the decision to back things off to ensure their Renault finished the race and it did – placing first in class and 12th outright.
“Kyle started with a great start and then we had to maintain the gap. We didn’t think the race was going to play out like that,” Blake said.
“Our pace was really good and after the pit stop we had about a 15-20 seconds lead and with the problems we had yesterday, I just backed right off and looked after the car and brought it home.
“I could see the other car was catching us, but we knew that time was on our side so we didn’t have to push too hard in the end, which was great.
“Probably one of ABR’s proudest days.”
