In his sixth time of asking Rossi Johnson has broken through to record his first top 10 finish in the Toyota 86 Series, driving for TekworkX Motorsport, while his teammates Andrew Shah and Jayden Wanzek were both struck by misfortune.
A series of unfortunate circumstances had previously seen Johnson fall just shy of the barrier he almost broke on his debut, including a number of unavoidable incidents that have required extensive rebuilds of his #333. After enjoying an 11th place finish in the final race at the season opener, Johnson picked up at Mount Panorama right where he left off nearly three months ago.
Johnson qualified in 13th in the midst of a tight bunch that started up in sixth place on the timing screen, only six tenths of a second quicker than Johnson’s lap. The opening race for the weekend saw the least running, with just three green flag laps due to a mid-race Safety Car intervention. The #333 driver therefore remained right where he started for the duration of the race. Race two saw Johnson put together a clean and measured drive as he rose to 11th by the chequered flag, equalling his best result to that point in the series.
The final race was not only the most eventful for Johnson, but his most successful. The traditional opening lap shuffle putting him back to 15th before he was able to respond superbly and charge back to finish in ninth.
The remaining two cars in the TekworkX Motorsport stable displayed pace strong enough to contend at the front but were brought undone in various ways.
Shah was one of the quickest in the field through practice in the opening sector and he carried that form into qualifying. His fastest lap came in spite of a missed gear change entering Conrod straight, estimated to have cost the #29 up to 1.5 seconds. As it happens Shah qualified 1.5 seconds off pole, which put him 14th on the grid.
In the punctuated opening race Shah muscled his way to 16th, which turned out to be his best result of the weekend. First lap contact in race two damaged the #29 and left Shah to limp home with bent steering and a straight line deficit. Starting from 21st in race three, Shah again was handed damage after contact early on. Another example of damage limitation from Shah led him to a 17th place result.
Wanzek was struck by mechanical issues in races two and three, relegating him to 32nd and 25th respectively. The results came after a 17th place in qualifying and a charge to 13th in race one. Traffic cost Wanzek in qualifying, as he was unable to set a time with his tyres in the optimal window.