It’s getting crowded at the top – IPRA NSW Round 4

It might have still been winter, but the on-track action at round 4 of the IPRA NSW 2024 championship was red hot right through the field!

All our pre-event hard work paid off during Friday practice, with setup changes resulting in a PB of 1:41:80. That’s more than half a second faster than the previous best. That was enough to warrant an early finish, with the crew and family helping to get the M3 ready for qualifying on Saturday morning.

JOSEPH LENTHALL – JL RACING TEAM

Race 1

A healthy grid took starter’s orders on Saturday, with Ben Sheedy banging his Holden Commodore on pole and Matt Birks waving the Under 2L class flag with a mighty lap in his four-banger Toyota Corolla alongside him.

Unfortunately, in a critical blow to his Unders championship aspirations, Birk’s race would be over almost before it began, his motor expiring at turn five on the third lap.

A safety car period brought the field back to Sheedy, who seemed untroubled in claiming a lights-to-flag win from Over 2K class points leader Joseph Lenthall and 2023 title holder Steve Engel.

Race 2

It would be the turn of Engel to dash his chances of a two-peat in race two, retiring on the second lap to gift Sheedy a second win Lenthall was a lonely second, with Kees Delhaas posting a brilliant third in his beautifully turned-out VL Commodore.

Danny Castro claimed his second Unders win of the weekend aboard his Nissan Silvia from Matt Giuntini, with Mick Ricketts in his Nissan Pulsar rounding out the podium.

We immediately picked up where race one finished. A great battle between the Engel EVO and Castro Silvia looked likely, until Engel went into the grass at turn 2, on his second lap. The task was very simple after that; finish with as many points as possible. I was able to crack into a good rhythm and cruised the car home to a comfortable second place.

JOSEPH LENTHALL – JL RACING TEAM

Race 3

It was all action in the final race of the weekend, held under threatening skies at Sydney Motorsport Park. Sheedy jumped out to an early lead, but carnage was narrowly averted behind him after Mark Hawwa‘s Mazda RX-7 broke an axle while on the third row of the grid.

Engel punted his Mitsubishi EVO through the pack from the rear of the grid, with Delhaas the sacrificial Overs retirement after a great weekend.

Trouble would also find the Unders points leader, Tim Molesworth, who survived a stuck throttle in his Toyota Celica at turn two to finish the race, albeit down the order.

Giuntini would also strike trouble, sliding his Honda Civic off the outside of turn one while in a strong position. He would rejoin and come home sixth, securing his Unders third placing for the weekend, behind Ricketts and Castro.

Giuntini takes the Unders points lead into the final round, with Molesworth holding second ahead of Mark Larmour.

Sheedy would make it a perfect weekend, with a trio of wins and a pole position to move past Engel for third in the Overs title race. Lenthall claimed second overall for the weekend to consolidate the Overs championship lead ahead of Tim Robson, who claimed the first round podium of his IPRA NSW career aboard his Civic.

Over the course of the weekend, the crew hardly touched the car which is a testament to the hard work done before the round. The strong finishes extend the championship lead to more than a race win, with only three races to go. A handy gap going into the last round in November at One Raceway.

JOSEPH LENTHALL – JL RACING TEAM

Round 5 is set down for the newly made-over One Raceway in November, in what promises to be an intriguing tussle to decide our overall champions for 2024.

WATCH VIDEO HERE: https://youtu.be/jeEg8lCu8hw

JLM Lubricants is a proud sponsor and supporter of the NSW Improved Production Association.