Max Vidau has broken through for a maiden round podium in the Dunlop Super2 Series in Townsville and collected his first Rookie of the Round award after another strong weekend for the Anderson Motorsport driver.
A stuck throttle early in practice one initially set Vidau on the backfoot, with just one lap in the opening session. The team were able to complete practice two without any more problems, and Vidau worked through a condensed practice programme in the 40-minute session.
Vidau then recovered from an engine shutdown early in Saturday’s qualifying, to earn 12th on the grid for Race 5 of the season. The South Australian driver expertly picked the gap through a large opening lap accident which saw him vaulted up to fourth in the running order. Once the race resumed Vidau quickly dispatched a damaged car in front and climbed to third place, which he comfortably held for the remainder of the race.
It was the second podium of the season for the Anderson Motorsport driver, as he became the first rookie to stand on the podium at multiple events in 2024. Vidau is also one of just five drivers with multiple podium finishes across the first six races of the season.
Sunday’s qualifying saw Vidau close the gap to the front, matching the pole time across the final two sectors of his lap, qualifying just 0.25 seconds away in ninth. For just the second time this year the race ran without the interruption of a Safety Car, which brought tyre conservation into the equation. After slipping to 11th, Vidau’s strong long run pace came to the fore as the laps wound down and the 23-year-old climbed back to finish in ninth.
The two top 10 results secured a maiden round podium for Vidau, with third place, and the leading rookie honours. Vidau holds on to fourth place in the championship, continuing to lead the way for the rookies in 2024.
The fourth round of the season takes place from September 13th-15th at Sandown Raceway.
Quotes:
Max Vidau
“We definitely didn’t have the fastest car this weekend, but we just chipped away, kept our nose clean and hit our markers” said Vidau.
“After starting Friday with the jammed throttle, we really couldn’t complain with ending up third for the round. We’re close to where we need to be, but still just working on executing all the little one percenters and putting together a complete weekend which he haven’t done yet.
“In terms of our speed I feel we’re doing quite well in the exit part of the corner, and that’s certainly helping us in the longer races with the tyre wear. It’s just those qualifying laps, we need to work a bit on my confidence to really jump on that brake pedal and push the limit there a bit more.
“It’s the most competitive field I’ve ever been a part of, to be a quarter of a second away in qualifying and be in the back half of the top 10 is pretty wild. I’ve been so fine tuned to the Porsche way of racing, so there’s a lot more to come from us as we press on and keep unlocking that Supercar way of doing things in my driving” concluded Vidau.