Nathan Morcom charges out of Siberia corner at Phillip Island.
The Direct Plasterboard Outlet-Rondo racing team has won its class yet again in the opening round of the 2012 Australian Production Car Endurance Championship at Phillip Island. It’s the team’s fourth successive long-distance race win in Class B, for 2WD High Performance cars, adding to successes in last year’s Phillip Island race and the end-of-year event at Eastern Creek Raceway in 2010-11.
On this occasion, drivers Nathan Morcom and Chaz Mostert finished the six-hour race four laps ahead of their nearest Class B rival, and third overall.
In the early laps, a repeat of the two young guns’ upset outright win at Eastern Creek last year looked to be on the cards when Mostert took the fight up to the two leading all-wheel drive Class A Evo X Mitsubishi Lancers. But the pace overheated the BMW’s rear tyres, forcing Mostert to slow slightly to make the rubber survive until his scheduled fuel stop.
Unlike at Eastern Creek, when none of the Class A cars could maintain their speed advantage over the Class B BMW for the full six hours, this time two of them did go the distance. At the chequered flag, Morcom and Mostert had completed 189 laps of the 4.5km Victorian circuit, three fewer than eventual winners Jim Pollicina-Ryan Simpson, and second placegetters Stuart-Kostera-Ian Tulloch.
Direct Plasterboard Outlet owner Barry Morcom couldn’t fault his team’s performance.
“The Direct Plasterboard Outlet-Rondo BMW didn’t miss a beat all weekend, both boys drove quickly and consistently, and our pit stops were fine,” he said.“Our strategy was to try to put pressure on the Evos. They’re quicker than our car, but their weakness has always been reliability.
“It’s just a big ask for a 2WD car to beat the AWDs. We have to drive more carefully to keep the rear tyres alive for a whole stint, and our longer fuel range (Class B cars are allowed to carry 10 litres more than the Class As) isn’t enough to make up for the speed difference over six hours. Twelve hours maybe …”
Nathan Morcom described his two driving stints as uneventful, except for the latter stages.
“There was a vibration coming from the right side tyres early in my second stint, so I knocked a few seconds off my lap times to make sure we held onto the class lead to the finish,” he said.“There was no chance of us catching the Evos unless they stopped, and the next Class B car was too far behind to be a threat.”
POS | DRIVERS (TEAM-CAR) | CLASS | LAPS | TIME |
1. | Jim Pollicina-Ryan Simpson (Poll Performance / Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) | A | 192 | 6:00:15.7177 |
2. | Stuart Kostera-Ian Tulloch (TMR Performance / Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) | A | 192 | 6:00:18.2536 |
3. | Nathan Morcom-Chaz Mostert (Direct Plasterboard Outlet-Rondo / BMW 335i) | B | 189 | 6:01:29.9251 |
Winners are grinners! Barry Morcom with Nathan and Chaz after the race.