RACE REPORT – Excel Championship Round 6 at Wakefield Park
The AGI Sport team were kept busy prior to the 6th round of the NSW Excel series after the #77 car was written off and the #66 car severely damaged following a turn 1 accident at the previous round.
Despite having missed the previous round, Nathan Gotch was still leading the series coming into the penultimate round, with fellow team drivers Glenn Smith placed fifth and Nick Filipetto eighth in the championship.
After ‘re-shelling’ the #77 car, Nick Filipetto also had a new engine to ‘run in’ for the event that would ultimately restrict his performance throughout the event.
Practice 1 on the Saturday morning showed the pace of the AGI Sport Excel’s as they headed the time sheets:
- Practice results:
o 1st – AGI Sport – Nathan Gotch
o 2nd – AGI Sport – Glenn Smith
o 6th – AGI Sport – Nick Filipetto
Qualifying for the 6th round of the Excel series again had lead driver Nathan Gotch heading the time sheets.
- Qualifying results:
o 1st – AGI Sport – Nathan Gotch
o 3rd – AGI Sport – Glenn Smith
o 7th – AGI Sport – Nick Filipetto
Race 1 saw Nathan Gotch make a clean start and lead the race from green light to chequered flag. Glenn Smith also made a great start to slot into 2nd place and complete an AGI Sport 1-2 finish!
- Race 1 results:
o 1st – AGI Sport – Nathan Gotch
o 2nd – AGI Sport – Glenn Smith
o 6th – AGI Sport – Nick Filipetto
Race 2 featured a reverse grid start. Nathan made a competitive and successful start from the back of the grid, overtaking 10 cars on the opening lap take 2nd place by the end of lap 1. By lap 3, Nathan had passed teammate Filipetto to take the lead and a commanding victory from back of field.
- Race 2 results:
o 1st – AGI Sport – Nathan Gotch
o 3rd – AGI Sport – Nick Filipetto
o 5th – AGI Sport – Glenn Smith
Race 3 on Sunday morning proved a turning point for the team. Nathan suffered misfortune while teammate Glenn Smith stepped up to the plate to challenge for the round win.
Gotch got away to a clean start to lead the field for the majority of the race however a burst radiator at 2/3 thirds distance would see him slowly fall through the pack.
Glenn Smith chased eventual winner Michael Hiscoe hard to finish just 4 tenths of a second behind in second place.
- Race 3 results:
o 2nd – AGI Sport – Glenn Smith
o 7th – AGI Sport – Nick Filipetto
o 10th – AGI Sport – Nathan Gotch
After the #66 car suffered engine failure after overheating, Race 4 would see a ‘car swap’ for two AGI Sport team mates. In a great show of sportsmanship Nick Filipetto kindly offered his teammate and championship leader Gotch there-shelled #77 car to gain as many points as he could from race 4.
Glenn Smith came through to finish another very respectable 2nd place while Gotch starting from the back would finish in 7th in the #77 car.
- Race 4 results:
o 2nd – AGI Sport – Glenn Smith
o 7th – AGI Sport – Nathan Gotch
o DNS – AGI Sport – Nick Filiptto
Race 5 featured a maiden win in the Excel series for team driver Glenn Smith. Glenn drove the lead from start to finish in the 6 lap final with a deserving victory. After a record-setting two hour engine change in the car #66 which featured all team drivers “on the tools”, Gotch made the grid, starting from the rear. In the hasty engine change one vital detail was missed and the AGI Sport driver was helpless on the grid without any throttle control to the engine.
- Race 5 results:
o 1st – AGI Sport – Glen Smith
o 6th – AGI Sport – Nick Filipetto
o DNF – AGI Sport – Nathan Gotch
The AGI Sport team now head in to the final round of the 2013 NSW Excel Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park (South circuit) on the 7th & 8th of December.
Nathan Gotch now 8 points behind series leader Michael Hiscoe heading into the final round looking to reverse the position and take out the inaugural Excel Championship. Fellow team driver Glenn Smith is now in 4th position on the point table and Nick Filipetto in 6th. The final round will also see the debut of Dave Kermond behind the wheel of the #55 AGI Sport car.
