This weekend is the final round of the 2016 championship at the prestigious Sandown Historic which features it’s 25th anniversary this year. A huge 39 cars headline the MG field but all eyes will be on the championship protagonists Vince Gucciardo, Jason Holmes and Phil Chester.
Vince Gucciardo in just his second year leads the championship in the GB Galvanizing MG TF LE500 with a slender lead on Jason Holmes MG ZR. Gucciardo commenting that anything could happen “after my year anything could happen, we have been plugging away this year and just trying to keep finishing as many races as possible. This year pretty much anything could of happened and just about anything has happened but I’m focused on these three races this weekend and we will see what happens”. Jason Holmes is chasing his third championship, in an unlikely situation after missing the opening round, “I was away for the opener this year so to have pegged the point back is great, it has happened mainly from just finishing as many races as possible and reliability.”
Anything can happen at Sandown as we always know, and sitting in third place is Phil Chester in his B GT V8. Chester purchased the car last year and had the sole ambition to run it this year and see what he could do… “We bought the car, and I promised Peter (Bennett the car owner) that I would go out to win in the car, and this year I have, so much so I even put Dale (Wood, brother of Glen) in it at Winton for the lap record, it’s about a nod to Peter and the team that built it”.
Chester went on to comment that despite temptations he has left the car heavily like he got it, “We really tried to keep it how they ran it, I have changed the seat, it has a new gearbox after the last one broke, but basically it’s how they ran it, and that’s how I want to keep it”.
How the year has gone Chester isn’t expecting too much, “Well look the year has been up and down, I look back and a couple of DNF’s really hurt, one at Sandown and one at Winton, but it’s how it goes and we will give it our all at Sandown and see what happens…”
So, anyone care to put a wager on who will come out on top?
