Mechanical Misfortunes Hinders Mclean’s Hopes at Wakefield Park - Gatorz Racing!
Gatorz Racing’s Ian Mclean had high hopes of success dashed by a weekend (April 14 – 15) of engine woes at the NSW State HQ Holden Championship season-opener at Wakefield Park Raceway in Goulburn.
After promising practice sessions indicated a competitive package for the opening round, McLean’s engine gremlins prevented him from finishing any of his three races after the engine blew up in qualifying on Saturday morning. Managing to clock the sixth-fastest time in only eight on-track laps, Mclean was forced to make an unplanned trip back home to Canberra to replace the engine with a spare (which was down in horsepower to the original) and subsequently missed race one.
With all work and no rest or play the tone for the weekend, Mclean pulled an all-nighter only arriving at the track only 15 minutes before the start of race two on Sunday morning. But the chance to gain valuable points was doomed yet again, after an electrical short failed to see him to start race two.
In the 12-lap third and final race, Mclean pushed on fiercely climbing from the rear of the grid to as high as seventh with a top five result in sight. But head blown head gasket on his hybrid spare engine on lap eight forced Mclean to retire to the pits on a premature note.
“This weekend has been pretty disappointing considering the car felt really well in qualifying,” said Mclean.
“Our pace was indicating an easy top five result for the weekend but even though we didn’t finish any of them, it’s still a promising sign for the remainder of the year.”
With the main engine now in the process of being rebuilt, the # 96 Gatorz Racing HQ Holden will race a fresh package at the CAMS National Series this weekend (April 21-22) at Oran Park Raceway, in what will be his first visit to the 2.6km circuit.
“This will be my first visit to Oran Park so it will be a bit daunting trying to learn the circuit, particularly being one of the more demanding tracks in the state. But I’m looking forward to the challenge and giving it my best shot,” concluded McLean.
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