2023 Season 1 Round 5 Thunder Results
Michelmore leads home a Mitch Motorsport 1-2 at Atlanta
Drivers headed to Atlanta Motor Speedway for Round 5 of the Thunder Series on Wednesday night to tackle the newly reconfigured venue, with the key being to get the high line working early to allow multi lane racing.
Jason Martin claimed his third pole position of the series, narrowly edging out Garry Wellman, with Michael Scurlock, Michael Campbell and Phil Bissett rounding out the top 5.
It was an even start, with Martin and Wellman running side by side in the opening laps until lap 6, when Wellman was able to drop down to the low line in front of Martin. Around this time the top line started to fragment and most drivers elected to fall in line on the bottom of the track. The occasional driver would attempt to make the top line work, but without reliable assistance it never really lasted long.
Racing was pretty calm and calculated until the first caution of the night with a large multi car wreck in the tri-oval. This triggered a rush to pit lane with the majority of the leaders stopping for tyres and fuel. Paul Jackson and Jaie Schultz rolled the dice on strategy and elected to stay out, claiming track position for the restart.
With Martin and Michelmore in behind Schultz, the top line started working well and developed into a 7 car train at one point. However, with a big run around the outside, these 3 were able to drop down in front of Jackson and leave the remaining high line drivers drifting backwards until they too could find a gap and drop back to the low line.
30 laps to go, and things looked to have stagnated into a single lane race as the high line failed to fire. The race was turned on its head a few moments later with another large wreck exiting turn 2, collecting drivers at the back end of the top 10. Once the dust had settled, there were only 18 cars left of the lead lap, and of those very few were without some form of damage.
Ultimately, there were no challenges for the Mitch Motorsport pair with the top 8 crossing the line in a bunch finish, with the remaining lead lap cars doing their best to get to the line and salvage some championship points. Michelmore took the win ahead of Martin with Luke Georgeson rounding out the podium.
Race Summary:
105 Laps
3 Cautions for 9 Laps
6 leaders
9 Lead Changes
1st - #31 Josh Michelmore
2nd - #21 Jason Martin
3rd - #274 Luke Georgeson
4th - #98 Steven Williams
5th - #20 Brad Fenly
Stewards Summary:
Cautions:
Lap 21 - #52 Aiden Schultz
Lap 45 - #131 Steve Hoppitt
Lap 77 - #129 Paul Drady
Start Procedure Penalties:
Lap 80 - #02 Darren Mckenzie
Protests:
Lap 77 – #231 Paul Jackson failed to slow down or brake for a wreck – Protest Dismissed, #231 visibly slows and takes avoiding action
Other:
#52 Aiden Schultz – ROF start next Thunder Series race – 3 licence points (ANCAR Rule 5(d))
Martin extends his lead at the top of the standings, with a gap of 12 points over teammate Michelmore, with Mckenzie, Douglas and Carroll-Walden rounding out the top 5. As we saw, the battle isn’t over until the finish and getting points every week will become critical in the chase for the title.
Next week sees the series head to Texas and the first road course of the year at the Circuit of the Americas.
Full race results: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_race.php...
Full driver standings: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_standings.php...
For full race replay and future Thunder Series broadcasts, please head to Performance E-Streaming on Facebook
Drivers headed to Atlanta Motor Speedway for Round 5 of the Thunder Series on Wednesday night to tackle the newly reconfigured venue, with the key being to get the high line working early to allow multi lane racing.
Jason Martin claimed his third pole position of the series, narrowly edging out Garry Wellman, with Michael Scurlock, Michael Campbell and Phil Bissett rounding out the top 5.
It was an even start, with Martin and Wellman running side by side in the opening laps until lap 6, when Wellman was able to drop down to the low line in front of Martin. Around this time the top line started to fragment and most drivers elected to fall in line on the bottom of the track. The occasional driver would attempt to make the top line work, but without reliable assistance it never really lasted long.
Racing was pretty calm and calculated until the first caution of the night with a large multi car wreck in the tri-oval. This triggered a rush to pit lane with the majority of the leaders stopping for tyres and fuel. Paul Jackson and Jaie Schultz rolled the dice on strategy and elected to stay out, claiming track position for the restart.
With Martin and Michelmore in behind Schultz, the top line started working well and developed into a 7 car train at one point. However, with a big run around the outside, these 3 were able to drop down in front of Jackson and leave the remaining high line drivers drifting backwards until they too could find a gap and drop back to the low line.
30 laps to go, and things looked to have stagnated into a single lane race as the high line failed to fire. The race was turned on its head a few moments later with another large wreck exiting turn 2, collecting drivers at the back end of the top 10. Once the dust had settled, there were only 18 cars left of the lead lap, and of those very few were without some form of damage.
Ultimately, there were no challenges for the Mitch Motorsport pair with the top 8 crossing the line in a bunch finish, with the remaining lead lap cars doing their best to get to the line and salvage some championship points. Michelmore took the win ahead of Martin with Luke Georgeson rounding out the podium.
Race Summary:
105 Laps
3 Cautions for 9 Laps
6 leaders
9 Lead Changes
1st - #31 Josh Michelmore
2nd - #21 Jason Martin
3rd - #274 Luke Georgeson
4th - #98 Steven Williams
5th - #20 Brad Fenly
Stewards Summary:
Cautions:
Lap 21 - #52 Aiden Schultz
Lap 45 - #131 Steve Hoppitt
Lap 77 - #129 Paul Drady
Start Procedure Penalties:
Lap 80 - #02 Darren Mckenzie
Protests:
Lap 77 – #231 Paul Jackson failed to slow down or brake for a wreck – Protest Dismissed, #231 visibly slows and takes avoiding action
Other:
#52 Aiden Schultz – ROF start next Thunder Series race – 3 licence points (ANCAR Rule 5(d))
Martin extends his lead at the top of the standings, with a gap of 12 points over teammate Michelmore, with Mckenzie, Douglas and Carroll-Walden rounding out the top 5. As we saw, the battle isn’t over until the finish and getting points every week will become critical in the chase for the title.
Next week sees the series head to Texas and the first road course of the year at the Circuit of the Americas.
Full race results: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_race.php...
Full driver standings: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_standings.php...
For full race replay and future Thunder Series broadcasts, please head to Performance E-Streaming on Facebook
