Rare Spares were proud to present the first Touring Car Masters round this year with the season kick off in Adelaide at the Clipsal 500 over the first weekend of March. We also were delighted to send along Mark and Jane, Rare Spares customers who visited Rare Spares at Summernats, to the event for the weekend long experience!
"Both Mark and I were thrilled to find out we had been lucky enough to win the Rare Spares Clipsal Experience. We had an amazing weekend away… We were treated like VIPs!" said Jane.
Our guests also got to meet Rare Spares Ambassador and motorsport legend John Bowe who had a great weekend himself, starting on the Friday with a qualifying time a full one second faster than his own record time, to put him on the front of the grid for the seventh time in a row at Clipsal. That was until the very end of the session when Glen Seton’s Ford Mustang snuck ahead by six one hundredths of a second to grab pole instead.
The first race of the season got underway in sweltering conditions later that afternoon. Starting from second on the grid, JB found himself and his Torana with an early lead but was passed by Greg Ritter in his Chevy Monza. After an appearance from the Safety Car, Bowe was unable to get back ahead of Ritter and had to settle for second place with Glen Seton in hot pursuit.
Starting once again from second on the grid for Saturday’s race, JB and Ritter were hard at it from the off, forcing Bowe to clip the tyre wall at the first turn, causing damage to his steering arm and forcing him back to fifth. With the typical courage JB has become famous for, he fought his way back to third behind race winner Greg Ritter and the Falcon XB Coupe of Eddie Abelnica.
Sunday’s race was a reverse grid format which made JB’s job a lot harder because of his outstanding qualifying effort. Adam Garwood and his Torana eventually took the win ahead of Andrew Fisher and Andrew Miedecke.
Series wise, JB sits in a fantastic second place on 158 points, just 12 points behind series leader Greg Ritter and seven points ahead of Eddie Abelnica.
The next TCM round will be the Shannons Nationals at Sandown from the 1st to the 3rd of April.
V8 Supercar star driver and Rare Spares sponsored Jason Bright’s season also got off to a sweltering start. Race One saw Jason finish in 19thposition in what could only be described as torturous conditions, with temperatures inside the car exceeding 60 °C!
Race Two saw a massive improvement as Brighty was able to bring his VF Commodore home in eighth place in the second 125 kilometre race.
For the third and final race on Sunday, the weather played havoc as everyone rushed to put wets on for the start, just as the heavens opened. With the rain beginning to ease, Jason, starting from 18th on the grid, decided to pit for slicks and fuel. This tactic payed off as he was able move up ten places to eventually finish in a well-deserved eighth place.
The V8 Supercars next event will be at the Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint from the 1st to the 3rd of April.
