Shaking off the gremlins before Finke.
Marred by bad luck, the performances delivered by Team Toyo at the Sunraysia 600 in Mildura shows a race fitness for Finke that should haunt the dreams of competing teams.
Representing the blue and white was the #454 trophy truck driven by Brad Gallard and Scott Modistach, and Greg Gartner and Jamie Jennings in the Ford F150 #410 in the Extreme 2WD class.
The twin-turbo 2GR-FE-motivated #23 Pro-Class buggy piloted by Matthew Kittle and Jordan Johannsen joined the big trucks for a weekend of hellraising.
The Mildura course includes more varied terrain than other tracks, with top gear straights mixed up with tight, technical tree-lined corridors. Fine and still conditions over the weekend meant hanging dust, and lots of it.
Gartner and Jennings muscled the big truck through the continuously changing terrain and low visibility.
Chasing a class victory with a view of the podium, the #410 truck took a hard knock. Collecting an obscured tree stump during their second Sunday lap, damaged front suspension saw the team’s race marked for a premature finish.
Quickly repairing the truck’s front suspension trackside, the boys pushed on and despite the delay, the damage and a diversion penalty, claimed second in class and 15th outright.
Gallard, driving his Geiser Bros #454 truck (the NASCAR-powered PKMS truck is undergoing serious preparations for Finke), the boys from SA opened strong, rolling the truck metres before the start/finish in prologue, landing tyres down and barely losing a moment.
“As soon as she was back on her wheels she was throwing rooster tails again. We busted all the panels up, though,” said Gallard.
Topping the class in prologue and coming fourth in the Top Ten Shoot Out, Gallard set the pace for the trucks and mixed it up with the turbo buggies by recording the fastest TT lap for the race on his first loop of the Mildura track.
“We were in the hands of the dust but we were easily keeping pace. This is terrain I have grown up with and know. The truck was performing brilliantly,” he said.
The 1:05:32, a time that put him within striking distance of the podium and eventual race winner Shannon Rentsch, emphasises the misfortune of what happened next. After blowing a head gasket on lap two, Gallard’s weekend was brought to a grinding halt.
“We didn’t have the pace of Rentsch but it would have been nice to get on the podium. We had the speed for it, and we certainly showed promise for pace for trucks against the pro buggys on a different kind of track.”
The team will saddle up for some more pre-Finke seat time in the PKMS truck for the SAORRA round in Parilla in several weeks.
Gallard thinks the Finke will be a different story to the buggy-dominated Mildura round.
“The trucks come into their own a bit more at Finke. If we can find the right start position we will be in the hunt for a top spot.”
Matt Kittle also succumbed to a DNF, pulling out to preserve the PKMS #23 Jimco’s motor for Finke.
“We had bit of an engine issue; we’re pulling it apart now to find out what’s caused it. On day one I made it from 11th to fifth and had a nice clean run, then I got caught in dust and had to slow down.” Kittle said.
“On day two I had the second-fastest time for the first lap and unfortunately had a slight engine issue on lap two. We pulled the buggy in to save the motor for Finke. We could have got a bit more out of it but it wasn’t worth the risk.
“You don’t see as much variation in terrain at other tracks as you do in Mildura. It was rough and technical; the start line had a lot of jumps and whoops for the spectators and there were a few long fast straights in top gear, but then a lot of tight tree sections where a mistake ends your race.”
The Toyo Open Country M/T-Rs were up for the challenge.
“The tyres held up really well. We wouldn’t have had to change tyres for the whole 600km race and we were extremely pleased with how they handled. Especially in the tight stuff, they are great at keeping you out of the trees.” Kittle said.
“You’re always busy in the car and it makes a difference knowing you can rely on them,”
Next up: The 40th anniversary of the Finke. Bring it on.
