Tyler Everingham scored his first Super2 round victory, as team-mate Declan Fraser took his maiden podium in a successful return to racing for MW Motorsport.
The MW Motorsport Nissan Altimas were at the front the whole weekend, despite missing an engineer due to travel restrictions.
In opening practice Everingham led the way in fifth from Fraser, Jayden Ojeda seventh and Josh Fife in 14th.
Three of the top five at the end of Practice 2 were MW Motorsport entries as Fraser was at the top of the timesheets on a 1m 30.9587s, with Everingham third and Ojeda fourth as Fofe improved also into 11th.
Qualifying for Race 8 continued MW Motorsport’s strong weekend as Jayden Ojeda set pole position, a course record 1m 29.9700s.
Lining up behind in third was Fraser, while Everingham was fifth and Fife 16th.
A stall and Turn 1 incident provided Everingham the perfect opportunity to take the lead as he emerged from Turn 2 in the lead.
Ojeda had dropped to second and was fighting title rival Broc Feeney into Turn 3 when contact was made sending the MW Motorsport driver off track as Fraser took third.
A thrilling battle ensued with Feeney for the lead, but Everingham held on to take his second career Super2 victory in an impressive display.
Fraser backed it up to score his first Super2 podium, a strong result for the rookie.
Ojeda recovered to score eighth and Fife 14th.
In qualifying for Race 8, the weather worsened as Everingham led the MW Motorsport team in third from Fife in sixth, Fraser in seventh and 10th for Ojeda.
Drivers had to cope with treacherous conditions when race time came around, with the event red flagged after 10 laps due to multiple incidents.
Approaching Bathurst, the MW Motorsport drivers are well placed in the title fight as Ojeda leads the charge in third.
Right behind Everingham is fourth, while Fraser closes to within 30 points of Rookie standings leader Matt McLean and Fife is 11th.
QUOTES
MW Motorsport
Tyler Everingham
“It’s great to get the round win. It’s been a bit of a struggle to get one of these, so it’s good to get a round win under my belt, especially after Townsville where we struggled a bit.
We struggled in qualifying, which has been a trend of mine. We were really strong in Race 1 where we were able to come away with the win and unfortunately the wet race today was declared because we were still looking strong.
“It’s a confidence booster to bounce back and be ready for Bathurst where, hopefully we can get some more race wins.”
Declan Fraser
“I had a fantastic weekend. I scored my first podium in the Super2 Series, I came away with third and also Rookie of the Round.
“It was really cool to finally be up there and spray some champagne. I’ve been looking forward to it all year and it was great to get there thanks to the team at MW Motorsport for preparing a great car.
“It was a bit of a shame to get a declared race at the end, but pretty keen for Bathurst in two weeks.”
Jayden Ojeda
“It was a difficult weekend for me in the Jayco Nissan Altima. It started off amazing, setting a new qualifying lap record and took pole position to be the first Super2 car to dip into the 1m 29s.
“At the start of Race 7, I dropped back to third and at Turn 3 I was an innocent party and got tagged. I fell back to 25th and made it all back to eighth in a 15 lap race, so the car pace was mega.
“A little bit disappointing when you’ve got the car pace to win the race and you don’t manage to get the job done.
“Qualifying on Sunday didn’t quite go to plan. I missed the eight ball again and ended P10 through no fault of the team, but just missed it.
“In the race, I made it to P6 or 7 in the two laps we had, then I saw the rear wing of another car at Turn 2 and my weekend finished there.
“Still managed to finish the race, but it was declared a non-event so we don’t take too much of a hit in the series standings.”
Josh Fife
“The weekend started off as a struggle, we qualified 16th and ended Race 8 in 14th.
“On Sunday it rained and fortunately we got to qualify in sixth, which was really good. During the race I was making a move on fourth, but unfortunately I got tagged in the rear into Turn 1 and that ended our race, though it was red flagged anyway.
“I’m really looking forward to Bathurst in a weeks’ time.”