Troy Dontas lined up in a brand new look VE Ute Backed by Oaklands Built. Another new partner presented also for the #5 Holden was XFORCE Performance Exhaust. “It is fantastic to have the support of our sponsors and backers; I can’t thank them enough for their investment they have submitted” a very excited Troy Dontas mentioned.
Friday morning presented the team with Practice 1 where it all started well with Troy starting to settle into the new look Holden. His times were showing true promise until a high speed off at turn 4 resulted in returning to the pits mid-way through the session with a power steering failure. “The car was at the top of 4th gear doing approximately 160kph when the power steering line blew apart and through oil everywhere, it was a seriously scary moment” said Troy.
The team returned the car to the garage and with a very tight turn around manage to get the car back on track by a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, a damaged power steering rack ruined another session.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and with a fear of rain, the team coached Troy to set a lap early to secure a spot on the grid.
For race 1 the Oaklands Built Holden started from P14 with rubbing and racing as per the V8 ute category Troy managed to move the #5 Commodore up into P12.
Race 2 saw a grid shuffle take place which saw the Oaklands Built/XFORCE Commodore started off the front row. Richard Mork jumped the start leaving Troy to have an advantage and get through turn 1 by himself and take lead of the race. A mid-race altercation with another car saw damage to the front of the car. Unfortunately, the damage caused from the accident was too severe to finish the race as the car suffered engine power loss and overheating issues.
Race 3 was looking good until an engine issue caused by race 2 incident didn’t show through until the vehicle was on track, unfortunately due to a string of bad luck and equipment issues we withdrew from the last race.
“It was a very disappointing to have the bad luck we did. Last time I checked I never ran over any black cats” said Team owner Mathew.
The Australian V8 Utes are next on track at the Winton SuperSprint May 20 – 22.
