Mustang Cup Australia has arrived in force with the opening round of the series on Australian shores going down to an incredible drag race to the line for the victory.
Garry Rogers Motorsport team mates Aaron Cameron and James Golding were wrapped in an intense race-long battle for the win, with Cameron taking the inside line onto the main straight to pip Golding at the post on the run to the line. The gap at the finish line was a minuscule 0.006 of a second!
“It was a pretty cool race,” Aaron Cameron said post-race. “I saw Jimmy [Golding] coming and he was behind me for what felt like forever, and I really thought once he got me he was going to be sailing out.
“I was able to get a bit close to him on the last lap, and we had a really good battle.
“I didn’t expect to get it at the line – I still thought we were second. It was bloody awesome!”
Cameron lead the race from pole in very wet conditions, with Race Control electing to complete a second formation lap due to the spray and standing water after significant morning showers. With the rain stopping but the track still very wet, the entire field were on the Michelin Wet tyre, as the race got underway.
Golding dropped from the front row down into third behind GRM stablemate James Moffat in the early running, allowing Cameron to eke out a two-second lead over the battling pair. Once Golding got a handle on the conditions, he was able to pass Moffat and make inroads into Cameron’s lead, slowly reeling in the #33 GRM Mustang as the track began to dry. By half distance, the leaders were searching for dampness on the straights, as the sun began to beat down on the tarmac and the tyres began to overheat.
While Cameron was sticking to the traditional racing line, Golding was searching for grip around the outside of corners, and used a great run out of Siberia to set up a cracking move around the outside of the sweeping downhill left-hander at Lukey Heights, positioning the car on the inside for the MG hairpin and taking the lead with only three minutes left.
It all looked sewn up from there, but a poor run out of the long Southern Loop brought Cameron back onto the bumper on the final lap. The pair made side-to-side contact through Stoner corner, with Golding just holding on to the lead as the race hit a crescendo.
Coming out of MG on the final lap, Golding again elected to take the outside line through the final two corners, allowing Cameron to hold a tighter line on the inside. The pair swept onto the main straight almost line astern, setting up a drag race to the line. It was impossible to tell who hit the chequered first, but the timing screen gave the answer; Cameron had snuck over the line by a tiny margin of 0.006 seconds!
Further afield, James Moffat made it a GRM 1-2-3 with a solid third place, while Ford Team Development driver Cam McLeod finished fourth, over a minute back, while Joe Fawcett wrapped up the top 5. The Dark Horse Legends class was won by Keith Kassulke, winning over Ben Dunn.
