Zoe Woods has turned heads with a standout performance in her debut at a national level the past weekend, competing in Australian Production Cars alongside Luke Youlden at TekworkX Motorsport.
The weekend was split in two parts, the two solo races that Woods contested herself and the two hour mini enduro on Saturday night where Youlden jumped in for co-driving duties aboard the Hyundai i30.
Youlden was handed the keys for the early part of qualifying, setting a time strong enough to earn car #210 pole position in Class C for the opening race of the weekend. Woods jumped in the car for the latter part of the session, logging some valuable night time miles ahead of the endurance race.
Race one of the weekend saw Woods at the wheel for 30 minutes, with her early race pace particularly impressive as she set class leading lap times. As the race wore on Woods, who had not raced for such a length of time before, began to tire but still held on to finish in second place.
The night-time enduro, dubbed the ‘fight in the night’, was decided by strategy and luck with the safety car interventions. Woods put in a solid opening stint, coming in around halfway to hand over the car to Youlden as the team conducted its one fuel stop for the race. Youlden was consistently the fastest Class C car on track but thanks to some fortune for the class leader getting waved by the safety car on multiple occasions, Youlden couldn’t close down the gap. Nevertheless it was another commendable runner up finish for the TekworkX Motorsport pairing.
Race three reverted to the 30 minute sprint format seen in race one, with Woods again impressing on her way to second place. This time much more prepared for the extended time behind the wheel thanks to a mammoth stint the previous night.
“Our weekend at Queensland Raceway went very well, it was very much a stepping stone for myself making my first start in a national series,” said Woods.
“Overall we’re very happy with the weekend and our results in each race to come away with second in class. We have a few little things to work on before Sandown in September but I’m looking forward to learning a new track down there.
“I’d like to give a massive thanks to my parents Rob and Astrid as well as my sponsors (Unit, LuLu Lashes and Beauty, Creative Signworx, Topline Civil) and Luke for his guidance before and during the weekend,” concluded Woods.
“It was pretty much a perfect weekend, with a fast reliable car and plenty of experience gained for Zoe,” said Youlden.
“The whole point of the weekend is to get more miles under the belt for Zoe, and she was able to get plenty with some running during the day and also some night time experience which is quite valuable but hard to do outside of a race weekend.
“I was really impressed with her performances, Zoe displayed great speed and a lot of maturity in how she handled herself around other cars. She was able to execute some brilliant passing manoeuvres against some talented competition,” concluded Youlden.
TekworkX Motorsport also fielded Rob Woods and Nathan Sticklen in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, with Sticklen finishing third in class for race one before he and Woods achieved top five finishes across the rest of the weekend.
Woods will be back in action for the next round of the Australian Production Cars at Sandown Raceway from September 16-18. Sandown is also the venue for TekworkX Motorsport’s next event as a team, with Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup and the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 86 series in action from August 19-21.