SUNSHINE Coast resident and Aussie Racing Car driver Ben Walsh competed last weekend in Round Three of the Aussie Racing Car Championships at the V8 Super Car Triple Crown event at Hidden Valley in Darwin.
Walsh entered the weekend in second place in the championship, and after a completely dominant display, has come out with the championship lead.
The weekend started with Walsh topping the timesheets in practice, and then qualifying his Dr Ink Tattoo Removal Chev Camaro on pole position, smashing the existing lap record by over half of a second.
The Aussie Racing Car category is renowned for its close racing, and motor racing experts were stunned on the weekend, in what has been described as the most decimating drive in the 15-year history of the category.
He took out the first two heats, pulling a huge lead before both races were finished under the safety car due to accidents in the latter stages. In the third race, which was a full reverse grid, Walsh started dead last on 35th position. After 8 laps, he had worked his way up into 7th position and was on track to pull an amazing last-to-first victory when a spark plug lead failed, causing him to run the last few laps with a misfiring car, dropping him back into 17th position.
This caused damage to his weekend points haul, yet he still had enough points to start on the front row, in second position, for the final race. For the first three laps, he went wheel-to-wheel as the lead swapped many times. On the fourth lap, Walsh got himself into the lead and managed to pull a gap and maintain it until the checked flag.
Walsh said, “This was one of the best race weekends of my career. I felt my driving was at a level that I would call ‘being in the zone’, and to dominate in what is usually such a close category against former Bathurst Super Car Champions and multiple category championship winners, was an amazing feeling. The team did an outstanding job, and went above and beyond in very hot and trying conditions. I am pleased to be going into the second half of the season now leading the championship.”
The Dr Ink Tattoo Removal One11 Motorsport Camaro will be back on track at Round Four of the Australian Championship at Walsh’s home event, the Coates Hire 400 Super Sprint at Queensland Raceway, Ipswich.
