The stars and cars of MINI CHALLENGE are preparing to send Goulburn's racing tempo into overload across the weekend of April 4-6, when the newest Series on the Australian motorsport scene visits Wakefield Park.
After a successful round one at Sydney's Eastern Creek, MINI CHALLENGE will line up on the technical Wakefield Park layout for the first time and given the nature of the race circuit, fans should expect to see what many are tipping will be the best racing of the season.
Off track, the Series is creating just as much interest, with the likes of Seven Network personality, Grant Denyer a pivotal player in the points chase. Denyer took a race win at Eastern Creek and ended the weekend third overall. Having visited Wakefield on a number of occasions now, the man they call 'Dare' will be quite rightly looking for a round win.
The Eastern Creek round was a battle between former Gold Star winners, Neil McFadyen and Paul Stokell. Stokell has an affinity with Wakefield Park, having tasted success in a Nations Cup Lamborghini at the venue, whilst McFadyen has a simple brief from team boss – former Bathurst class winner, Peter Doulman – win, win, win.
He currently leads the Series from Stokell by 12 points and whilst he may not have as much experience at Wakefield as his chasers, McFadyen is a class act. At the age of just 24, he has nine Australian titles to his credit – a Formula Ford and Gold Star Championship in successive seasons two of those. Aside from leading MINI CHALLENGE – he's the pace-setter in the Australian Formula 3 Championship, too.
Potentially halting the progress of the top three is the success ballast added to their cars following Eastern Creek. McFadyen, by virtue of his round win, receives 25kg in weight, whilst Stokell and Denyer receive 15 and 10 kilograms respectively. This should, in theory, bring the three closer to the pack.
Stokell, who has raced in categories using success ballast in the past, believes the difference will be noticeable.
“Braking distances will increase due to having the additional weight on board, tyres will wear quicker and the car won’t accelerate as easily,” he said. “Effectively, we should see a drop off in lap times of one-tenth of a second per 10 kilos, all being equal.”
MINI CHALLENGE will have three races across the weekend, the second of which sees a reverse grid for the top six finishers from race one. Reverse grid racing always creates a lot of interest and at Wakefield Park; MINI CHALLENGE should be no different.
MINI CHALLENGE is one of the most exciting single-manufacturer racing Series in the world and it's coming to Wakefield Park over the weekend of April 4-6. Television coverage of the Wakefield Park event is scheduled for the Seven Network on April 26 at 2:00pm.
Wakefield Park represents the second round of an eight round Series where MINI CHALLENGE will visit many of Australia's favourite racetracks, including Sandown, Bathurst, Phillip Island and the V8 Supercar finale at Oran Park.
