Elliott Lotus extends Invited British class lead from Ondarchie

 

The Invited British field has been filled with V8 entries but it is the giant killing Lotus of Simon Elliott that is upsetting the applecart with a clean run in the first half of the 2019 championship.

Elliott’s Lotus Elan has been a regular in the top 6 this year, the striking orange paint job hard to miss and with a solid run at Round 3 in Sydney he has extended his class lead by another 12 points to Keith Ondarchie.  Elliott held a slim 15 point lead to Keith Ondarchie’s Triumph Stag however a tough Saturday in Sydney has put him on the back foot now needing to close the gap.  The pair have been the clear front runners this year in a David vs Goliath style battle.

Elliott has been Mr Consistant and heading into the back half is starting to fill with some confidence, “I haven’t really been looking at the IB points it’s been great being in the top few cars and doing as well as we can.  Keith’s car has the horsepower but I have Colin’s philosophy…simple and add lightness but it’s great that it’s close.  Winton will really suit my car overall but the final round of the year will suit Keith so we will see what happens”.

Elliott is looking forward to a strong run at Round 4, Winton Festival of Speed, “It is where the car comes into it’s own, I expect to really be chasing the front guys and a bag of points will come if we can keep it in the right place”.

Ondarchie on the other hand has been battling development in his Stag, “look we aren’t chasing championships, the car is still a development project and every session I learn something so the guys at MJR are just trying to get on top of it, we won’t really feature at Winton but looking ahead it will be exciting”.

Elliott has attributed some hard work by his team at Derby Werks to a solid year, “Sean Herlihy has been great, he works for me at Derby Werks during the week but he has done a heap of work on the Lotus and helping me go forward”

The pair will hit the track at Winton for Round 4 in August.

Simon Elliott         Lotus Elan 26R Recreation          199
Keith Ondarchie   Triumph Stag                                  172
Barry Pritchett      Triumph TR6                                   88
Jac Cousin             Jaguar E Type                                  75
Susan Tahir           Triumph TR6                                   71