Philip Chester claims his fourth straight Championship in MG Racing abort the familiar blue MG B GT V8, it has been a big year for Chester who took an important round win in front of the Bennett and Taylor families in Sydney but has been pushed in the back end of the season by Vince Gucciardo who has come onto form in 2020. Gucciardo piped Chester for Pole at Winton and won races outright but the early season form for Chester shaped the year.
Chester acknowledged that it has been a huge year and 2020 could be the hardest to defend, “for me round 1 was where we got the kick start, we got an early gap and that shaped our season. We had a bit of luck throughout the year but overall a strong year with some exciting results but next year will be hard, we saw Vince came on strong in the back of the year, Robin Bailey has shown form, and there are new cars coming alone”.
Chester see’s Vince Gucciardo as a genuine threat for 2020 with a breakthrough year in the Open class in 2019, “Vince has really stepped up, he has worked on his driving and done a great job, he picked up a pole, a few race wins, and pushed me at Winton and Sydney so it will be an interesting 2020 season”.
Chester wanted to acknowledge a number of people from the year, “without doubt some fantastic people have made the year, my girls Caelan and Maddie, but Vince for the fun on and off track, Marty at Garage 1 who runs the car, Mick from Yarra Valley Towing, Ian Wood, Monti, Cranbourne MG, Wolfchester, Splatts, Hobson Stores and the 2019 committee”.
Next season already see’s growth in the V8 field with Simon Elliott stepping up, as Rodney Gibb also looks to rejoin in his ZT and Rhys Howell in the SV-R looking to return.
