Nathan Sticklen and Rob Woods will line up for TekworkX Motorsport in round two of the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, at the team’s home track at Queensland Raceway.
Sticklen has one event entry under his belt, but no races to name after his Class B entry was damaged beyond repair on Friday at round one of the Championship. Sticklen had an innocent spin in practice one, and while sat stationary in a yellow flag zone he was hit by another car, damaging his chassis.
In the two months since the accident, TekworkX Motorsport have worked diligently to rebuild the #34 Stratton Bar and Kitchen entry. A period in which the team also had three events to prepare and compete at, encompassing three Carrera Cup rounds and a round of the Toyota 86 Series.
Both Woods and Sticklen completed a test day at Queensland Raceway last Monday, where Sticklen set a new personal best time in his freshly rebuilt car.
“I can’t thank Rob and the team enough, it was a huge effort from them considering how busy they are with all their cars,” said Sticklen.
“We had a very solid day at Queensland Raceway, I did my best ever lap around there and the car felt fantastic. I obviously know the track very well, but it will still be my first race. My goal is to just finish and have a good time.
“I think I can be competitive but first and foremost I want to get through the weekend without any incidents. I need to give a big thank you to Stratton Bar and Kitchen Newstead, Shaun Lockyer Architects and Big Chief Computers for their support. Most importantly my wife, who has supported me every step of the way,” concluded Sticklen.
Woods finished seventh and 10th in Pro-Am at the opening round of the year, either side of a DNF in race two when he was hit at turn two.
“Our test day was pretty good, I was actually very sick but I managed to get a few laps in and got the car where I wanted,” said Woods.
With Nathan’s car, after we rebuilt it and Luke (Youlden) shook it down, we put Nathan in and he was immediately faster than he’d ever gone so that was awesome.”
“I probably need to find a small bit of time but I feel I can do that. I’m looking forward to doing some racing at QR, now that it’s become our home track,” concluded Woods.
The TekworkX Motorsport duo in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge will be joined in action by Luke Youlden and Zoe Woods, making her national debut, in the Australian Production Cars where they will share a Hyundai i30 in Class C.
