Michael Caruso has expressed his confidence that he can compete at the front of the field with Ashley Seward Motorsport in their AutoGlym backed Alfa Romeo Giulietta at Queensland Raceway. The team will also field a quartet of cars in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge and a Turtle Wax Trans Am entry.
Caruso’s first season with ASM has been plagued by mechanical faults and bad luck, masking the true competitiveness of the pairing. Six top ten finishes inside the first eight races of the season saw Caruso ninth in the points and just 30 points away from second overall. Results of 11th, 20th, 14th and 20th since then have dropped the AutoGlym racer to 13th in the standings.
At the most recent round in Sydney Motorsport Park, a considerable two months ago, Caruso was on target to earn a reverse grid pole in race one before a flat tyre dropped him to the back. A positive charge to 14th in race two was the weekend highlight before contact resulting in a broken wheel in race three again sent Caruso to the rear.
Caruso’s best qualifying result this year was a second place at Phillip Island, highlighting the potential of the Alfa Romeo. There is good history for the ASM Alfa Romeo from when the series visited Queensland Raceway in 2019, with the team winning the round courtesy of two race victories and a runner up finish.
“I’m pretty eager to get back in the car, especially given the success that the ASM team have had in the past at Queensland Raceway,” said Caruso.
“I know how motivated everyone in the team is to get ourselves up the front and show everyone what we can do. I’ve got plenty of miles up in Ipswich, enough to really have a whole dataset of results. I have had great weekend’s up there and some less successful ones to but it’s been a few years since my last visit and I’m really looking forward to getting up there.
“It’s going to be good to see all the categories competing at the revamped track and showcasing the investments that Tony Quinn has made.
“We have shown throughout the year that we are one of the contenders to be at the very front, it’s just a matter of time until it happens. We will continue to put out best foot forward each day and I’m very positive in what we can achieve,” concluded Caruso.
In Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge the ASM team will be kept extremely busy with five cars competing in the second round of the championship. Pro-Am competitors Andrew Goldie and Ross McGregor return from the opening round as does Class B entrant Jacob Li. They are joined by Carrera Cup Pro-Am regular Scott Taylor, who is chomping at the bit to go racing again at his home track.
Brett Holdsworth will continue his charge to a top three result in the Turtle Wax Trans Am Championship, aboard his Breeze Holiday Parks Chevrolet Camaro.
Ashley Seward Motorsport will field six cars across three categories when the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships visits Queensland Raceway from August 5-7.
TCR Australia Standings
1. Tony D’Alberto – 412
2. Dylan O’Keeffe – 388
3. Josh Buchan – 379
4. Jordan Cox – 378
5. Jay Hanson – 356
6. Aaron Cameron – 355
7. Nathan Morcom – 349
8. Zac Soutar – 349
9. Will Brown – 343
10. Ben Bargwanna – 329
13. Michael Caruso – 305