Queensland’s fastest growing category, the QLD Production Car
Championship, returns to Queensland Raceway – for the first time in 2019 – this
weekend, with a non-championship event that will serve as a warm-up for next
month’s championship round, which will see the category racing under lights for
the first time in nearly two years.
With the cancellation of the Lakeside Classic, the 2019 season will now only be
contested over five rounds, but this non-championship round will fill the gap
left by the absence of the Classic, and as it is an event in which championship
points aren’t on the line, they’re shaking things up a little bit.
In a shortened three-race, one-day program, each race will be staged on a
different track configuration, meaning three of the four layouts at Queensland
Raceway will be utilised during this event.
Sunday’s meeting will be the first time in which Queensland Production Car races
have been run on a configuration other than the standard 3.12km National
Circuit, and it’s been made possible due to competitor feedback and interest.
In total, twenty-one cars will contest the Triple Track Challenge, with 10
different manufacturers represented within that field – a field that spreads
across the seven different classes that make up this series.
2019 Willowbank 300 winner Dylan Cothill makes his QPC debut, in a Ford Focus
RS, on Sunday, and he isn’t the only series debutant, with John Harris lining
up in a Class A1 Mitsubishi Evo X.
Karl Begg, who has won more QPC races at QR than anybody else, will headline
the fight for outright race honours this weekend, lining up in his Mercedes C63
AMG, alongside Beric Lynton, with the Bathurst 6 Hour winner lining up in his
BMW M3.
Elsewhere, Holden is the most represented marque on the grid, with five
entries, including the Class E Barina of Amanda Hockley, and Gerry Murphy’s
special edition VF SSV, which features in Class B2.
Defending series champion, Lea Medhurst, headlines Class D, in the Toyota 86,
and with qualifying and the opening two races being held on the shorter
configurations of the Queensland Raceway circuit, expect cars like the 86, the
VW Sciroccos and even the Renault Clio, being driven by Anthony Levitt, to
offer up a tougher fight against the outright cars in this field, including the
Evo, the C63 Mercedes and the Holden Commodore brigade.
Qualifying on the Clubman Circuit is expected to shake things up, which should
make for some highly entertaining racing.
After two rounds, seven different manufacturers sit in the top seven, on the
outright points table – four of that top seven will line up on Sunday.
While this may not be a championship round, it is a vitally important meeting
for those present, as Sunday is the day where preparations for the next round –
the ‘Night Masters’ event, also at Queensland Raceway – really step up a notch.
The program sees the Queensland Production Car competitors taking to the
circuit five times this Sunday. First up, a 15-minute practice on the National
Circuit, ahead of Qualifying and Race 1 on the Clubman Circuit, before
switching to the Sprint Circuit for Race 2, and then reverting back to the
National Circuit for Race 3, with that one to be held in twilight conditions.
All races will be 8 laps in duration.
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