It proved a tough yet rewarding third round of the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge for Sonic Motor Racing Services on the Reid Park Street Circuit in Townsville.
It was the first visit to the venue for the second-tier Porsche category and marked the first experience of a street circuit for Sonic’s two drivers.
Jake Santalucia and Conor Somers proved quick when track action started, but the attack was soon depleted after an incident in qualifying for the latter.
Leading the Sonic charge through practice, Somers caught slower traffic at Turn 10 during qualifying and was pitched into multiple rolls ending his weekend. Somers emerged uninjured from the incident, which is a credit to the strength of the Porsche.
“It was a disappointing weekend for us,” said Somers.
“We rolled out of the truck with a really fast car on Friday, but unfortunately we had an incident during qualifying, which resulted in a rollover to end our weekend.
“I’m just really disappointed we couldn’t get a result for everyone at Sonic for all the work they put in and getting a deserved result.
“Nevertheless, lots of hard work to be done, but we’ll be there ready to go at Queensland Raceway.”
Santalucia started the opening race from 10th and made moves early to be sixth until a mistake by a competitor in front led to heavy contact with the wall exiting Turn 6.
A superb effort from the Sonic team was duly rewarded by Santalucia on Sunday by two top results starting with eighth outright in the 45 minute Jim Richards Endurance event, then scoring sixth in the final.
“It was certainly a challenging weekend here at Townsville,” said Santalucia.
“First of all I’d like to thank the crew for working extremely hard to get my car back on-track for Sunday’s races after my crash in Race 1.
“In qualifying I got caught out by the red flag, but it’s not what you can prepare for and we started 10th.
“I made my way to seventh, but was involved in a crash and I had to start Sunday’s opening race from the back. It was quite exciting to drive through the field as in Race 2 I made up 15 positions. This proved the highlight of the day.
“I was chipping away, but was forced to manage a flat spot after the restart and lost a couple of spots after that.
“I have stuff to work on for myself, but I couldn’t have done it without the great team at Sonic.
“I can’t wait to hit the track again at Queensland Raceway.”
Both Somers and Santalucia will continue their maiden Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge campaigns at Queensland Raceway as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries on August 2-4.
