Corse Motorsport is the 2012 Radical Australia Cup champion team in only its second attempt at the one-make sports car category. The Wetherill Park, NSW, workshop prepared the SR3 of the series-winning driver, Neale Muston, who sealed the deal with one race remaining in the final round at Sydney Motorsport Park last weekend. Corse owner Mick Mitchell explained that the team took a conservative approach to give Muston the best chance of winning the Radical series on SMP’s 2.8km ‘North’ circuit. “Neale saved his tyres in qualifying, which probably cost him pole position for the first race, and he let Nathan Antunes take the win after Nathan jumped the start. “We thought Nathan would get a pitlane drive-through, but the stewards only gave him a five-second penalty – and Neale finished six seconds behind! “That fired him up for the second race, which he won by nine seconds and gave him an unbeatable lead in the pointscore with one race still to come.” Muston was poised to win the third race, but a driveshaft failed at the start. “The driveline takes a beating over the kerbs on the ‘North’ circuit link road, and one of the drive shafts looked like it might have a problem, so we changed it between races as a precaution,” Mitchell said. “For the replacement driveshaft to fail was unexpected, but sometimes that happens in racing.” Mitchell added that Muston’s win was all the more meritorious considering he missed one of the seven rounds. “Neale had to skip the second round because of business commitments, but he was clearly the dominant driver this year. “He was the overall winner at four of the six rounds he contested, and won races at the other two.” Mitchell considers Muston one of the best drivers he’s worked with since Corse Motorsport opened its doors in 1992. “Neale’s been racing for less than five years, but already he’s won three championship titles – and that could easily have been four or five if he’d been able to devote more time to motorsport. “He’s good enough to have made a career as a professional racing driver, but as a successful businessman he has the best of both worlds!” For his part, Muston acknowledged Corse Motorsport’s role in his series win. “I’ve been very happy with the results we’ve achieved this year, not only with the Radical but also with my Porsche 997 GT3,” he said. “We won 12 races from 16 starts in the Radical, which is a credit to the Corse crew’s superb preparation and pit work. “Mick’s management and strategic advice during race meetings was another key factor in our success. “Now I’m looking forward to racing next year with Number 1 on the new SR8 Radical, which is sure to be one of the fastest cars racing in Australia.” Corse Motorsport will field three of the 2.7-litre V8 sports cars for Muston, Nick Kelly and Ash Samadi in the 2013 Radical Australia Cup. A squadron of SR8s will race alongside the existing 1.5-litre four-cylinder SR3 models in a two-class series for the first time. See the original post... |