A LATE RACE pass has seen Chris Perini charge to the front to claim Race 2 and the overall round honours in a dramatic fourth round of the 2022 Radical Cup Australia at Queensland Raceway.
The Sydneysider had lurked within sight of the lead for much of the first half of a Safety Car interrupted 50-minute enduro on Sunday morning at Queensland Raceway but struck late in the race to claim the lead.
West Aussie’s Adam Lisle and Jordan Oon had commanded the early lead aboard their Arise Racing entry, leading the first 20 laps prior to their compulsory stop on the 20th lap.
That elevated the Brad / Mitch Neilson entry to the race lead which they were able to hold throughout their CPS on lap 23.
Perini, at this point, was back in second position having elected to serve his compulsory stop early in the race, his brand new #81 Bing Technologies Radical SR3 RSX having headed to the lane on lap 12, putting him out of sequence with the leaders.
He then struck on lap 30, moving to a race lead that he would never lose after passing the Neilson entry.
The Arise Racing car of Oon and Lisle also jumped the Volante Rosso car to move to second.
Things were far from sorted, however, with the minors changing hands several times in the final laps.
Zig Fuhrmeister was the man on a mission, charging from 6th on lap 31 to 2nd, briefly, on the 34th and penultimate lap of the race – before dropping back to sixth as he crossed the line.
Through that exchange, young-gun Sebastien Fiorenza had climbed to second position and crossed the line in the runner-up spot, however was penalised 10-seconds post race for an on track incident – one that dropped him down to seventh in the final results.
Through it all, Lisle and Oon retained second behind Perini, while Peters Paddon and Carr finished third, fending off the Neilson Radical in a close battle for the final step on the podium.
The Neilson’s also left Queensland Raceway with a new Radical lap record at the venue, Neale Muston’s 10-year-old benchmark broken thanks to a flying 1m10.3777s on lap 15.
Fuhrmeister finished a strong and racy fifth with Peter Clare sixth, Fiorenza seventh, Stephen Champion eighth, Bradley Russell ninth and Bill Medland 10th.
Two cars failed to finish, including Jonathan Grant and Elliott Schutte, who endured a challenging weekend aboard his Arise Racing entry.
He ran as high as sixth in race two before his car ground to a halt between Turn 1 and 2 on lap 27, bringing out the Safety Car and ending his day in the process.
The final results saw Perini claim the round victory and extend his championship lead, Peters Paddon & Carr second and the Lisle / Oon combination on the podium again in third.
A title contender heading into the weekend, Elliott Schutte’s double DNF ensures he leaves Queensland with just the two points achieved in qualifying to his name.
The final round of the 2022 Radical Cup Australia Series will see the championship head to The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia for the grand finale’, to be held with the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships on October 21-23.
Provisionally, Chris Perini will take an 18-point championship lead to the South Australian venue.
He currently has 291 points with Peter Paddon (273) and Peter Carr (272) next. Jordan Oon (259) and Adam Lisle (254) remain very much in calculations.