2023 Series 3 Round 12 Thunder Results

November 6, 2023

2023 Season 3 Round 12 Thunder Results

Race Winner Toby Stent

Thunder Series Review

Wednesday night saw the Thunder Series roll into town for the last time in 2023, with competitors heading to Phoenix Raceway. Whilst Josh Michelmore would need a nightmare race to lose the Series 3 crown, all eyes were on the overall honours, with only 10 points separating teammates Jason Martin and Michelmore.

Dave Douglas would put the #10 machine on pole, whilst Michelmore, Toby Stent, Barry Neale and Steven Williams would round out the top 5, whilst Martin would have to start from P7.

Michelmore was abler to hold the outside line and would take the lead by the end of the first lap, with Stent making his way past Douglas shortly afterwards. Drivers then set about getting into a rhythm to look after their tyres, noting that they would only need one stop for fuel around the halfway mark.

At the quarter distance mark, a group of 5; Michelmore, Douglas, Stent, Williams and Martin had pulled away from the rest of the field by the length of the back straight. Aiden Schultz, Neale, Ruben Phelps and Shaun Doecke were locked in a battle for P6.

Lap 50, and some of the drivers in the midfield start to head to pit lane for hopefully their one and only stop of the night. Douglas would be the first of the leaders to head in for service on lap 63, with Williams coming in a couple of laps later.

The first caution of the night would fly just afterwards, as Williams lost the rear exiting turn 4 on cold tyres. As some drivers hadn’t yet stopped, this left 7 cars on the lead lap and the start of the strategy game. With pit road open, those on the lead lap heading in for fresh tyres and fuel, whilst those a lap down stayed out in the hopes of getting the wave around and getting back on the lead lap.

The restart would see Michelmore and Phelps on the front row, followed by Doecke, Matthew Raymond and Karl Withey. However, the race would be placed under caution at the end of the first green lap as Phelps had a mirror image spin to Williams earlier.

With cars having different stages of tyre life all mixed up together, it made some very intense racing in the mid pack, often 2 and 3 wide for several laps, but this resulted in a couple more quick fire cautions.

Once the dust had settled, this left a 16 lap sprint to the finish. Withey would lead the restart on old tyres, ahead of Stent, Norman Clark, Douglas and Michelmore, with Martin in P7. Stent was able to use the highline with fresh tyres to power around the outside and take the lead, with Withey’s gamble not paying off and already down to P8.

Stent would cruise home to win, 1.7s ahead of Douglas, who managed to hold off a charging Michelmore, with Clark and Doecke rounding out the top 5.

Josh Michelmore – Series 3 Champion

With 2 wins and 10 top 5 finishes, Josh Michelmore takes the Series 3 title by 21 points over Jason Martin, with Matthew Raymond in third.

Jason Martin – 2023 Thunder Champion

Finishing P6 was enough for Martin to hang on and claim the crown by just 5 points over Josh Michelmore. with Matthew Raymond picking up another third place championship trophy.

Race Summary:

125 Laps

5 Cautions for 20 Laps

4 Leaders

10 Lead Change

1st - #189 Toby Stent

2nd - #10 Dave Douglas

3rd - #31 Josh Michelmore

4th - #09 Norman Clark

5th - #26 Shaun Doecke

Stewards Summary:

Cautions:

Lap 69 - #98 Steven Williams

Lap 75 - #06 Ruben Phelps

Lap 83 - #52 Aiden Schultz

Lap 92 - #45 Garry Wellman

Lap 106 - #06 Ruben Phelps

Restarts:

Nil

Protests:

Nil

Other:

Nil

Full race results and Series 3 standings at Sim Racer Hub: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_schedule.php...

That’s it for 2023. Thanks to all 86 drivers that took part in the series, and a special shout out to Jason Martin, Josh Michelmore and Matthew Raymond for contesting every round of the Thunder Series this year. Enjoy a well earned break and we look forward to seeing you all back on track in 2024.