TekworkX Motorsport team owner Rob Woods has raced his way to the top 10 in races one and three in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, on his return to racing.
The weekend did not begin positively as TekworkX arrived with two entries for the season opener. In practice one the #34 driven by Nathan Sticklen had an innocuous spin and was hit while stationary amid local yellow flags by an oncoming car. The hit was big enough to rule Sticklen out for the weekend.
In qualifying Woods put himself eighth on the grid amongst the Pro-Am field. The 45 minute endurance race was up first, with Woods falling back to ninth in the opening laps and picking up some damage to the nose of his Topline Civil Porsche. Woods fought back to finish seventh amongst some hard battles.
Race two ended at turn two with Woods copping a big hit from a diving car which clobbered the inside kerb before collecting the TekworkX car.
In race 3 starting from 25th overall on the grid and last in Pro-Am Woods had just 11 laps to make progress. Woods stormed up to ninth in Pro-Am and finished 19th overall in the race.
Following round one of the six round calendar, Woods sits 11th in the Pro-Am standings.
Quotes:
Rob Woods
“It was good to get back, the limited preparation I had probably hampered me a little bit.
“As a whole I’m happy, especially the last race where I made up about six or seven spots. I’m more looking forward now to going to Phillip Island and having another go.
“It was a bit unlucky for Nathan, it’s not the start to his racing career any of us wanted. I’d say I’m more disappointed for him than anything else. We’ll take it back and re-shell the car, rebuild it.
“In all, a pretty good weekend – it’s always good when you go racing.”
