RACE REPORT – AGI SPORT hold onto lead in Round 3 of NSW Excel Championship
Sunday the 8th of June saw the AGI Sport – Excel Team compete at the 3rd round of the NSW Excel Racing Championships at Sydney Motorsport Park’s South Circuit.
AGI Sport entered a three car team and headed into the round locking out the first three positions in the championship battle.
ROUND 3 – RACE REPORT
The NSW Excel series made their first visit to Sydney’s SMP South circuit for 2014 with a strong 21 car grid. All three AGI Sport drivers were well under lap record pace with the 2014 spec Kumho tyre fitted. It was Nathan Gotch who took pole position in the 8 minute qualifying session with Nick Filipetto in second and Glen Smith rounding out the top three.
Qualifying results:
o 1st – AGI Sport – Nathan Gotch – 1.08.75
o 2nd – AGI Sport – Nick Filipetto – 1.09.07
o 3rd – AGI Sport – Glenn Smith – 1.09.36
Race 1 saw an extremely close battle up the front between all three AGI Sport drivers. Lap times were less than 1 tenth of a second apart between the first three drivers. Gotch held on to take the win with Smith just slipping past Filipetto late in the race to take second place.
Race 1 results:
o 1st – AGI Sport – Nathan Gotch
o 2nd – AGI Sport – Glenn Smith (fastest lap / new Excel lap record – 1.08.64)
o 3rd – AGI Sport – Nick Filipetto
Picture by Rob Annesley look@shotbyrob.com.au
The reverse grid Race 2 featured the usual ‘mix up’ of positions with Filipetto leading from out front early on. Gotch made his way past Smith in the second half of the race and put the pressure on Filipetto for first. Filipetto held on to take the win with Gotch second, Smith third. All three drivers’ fastest laps were again less than one tenth of a second apart while first to third positions finished just six tenths of a second apart at the chequered flag. Extremely close Excel racing at its best!
Race 2 results:
o 1st – AGI Sport – Nick Filipetto
o 2nd – AGI Sport – Nathan Gotch (fastest lap – 1.08.70)
o 3rd – AGI Sport – Glenn Smith
Picture by Rob Annesley look@shotbyrob.com.au
Race 3 on Sunday afternoon proved another nail bitter with both Gotch and Filipetto running ‘nose-to-tail’ for the first half of the final race. Gotch managed to slip past and the battle then resumed between Filipetto and Smith. The two unfortunately had a ‘coming together’ heading into turn 15b. Filipetto got going again but Smith unfortunately now off circuit had to wait until the entire field went by. He did make a strong recovery however with an 11th place finish and a new Excel lap record. Gotch went on to take the win by 12 seconds over Filipetto with series returnee David Bailey in third.
Race 3 results:
o 1st – AGI Sport – Nathan Gotch
o 2nd – AGI Sport – Nick Filipetto
o 3rd – AGM Engineering – David Bailey
o 11th – AGI Sport – Glenn Smith (fastest lap / new Excel lap record – 1.08.58)
AGI Sport – Excel Team driver Nathan Gotch continues to lead the 2014 series. The battle for NSW Excel Championship continues at Wakefield Park on the 29th of June.
2014 NSW Excel Racing Championship
1) AGI Sport – Nathan Gotch – 201 points
2) AGI Sport – Nick Filipetto – 164 points
3) AGI Sport – Glen Smith – 141 points
