Ayrton Hodson’s debut Super2 campaign with new team Matt Stone Racing began with a race plagued by issues that stalled his progress through the field.
Hodson launched from 11th on the grid for the 40-minute encounter but slipped to 13th by the end of the opening lap as the field jostled for position.
Pole-sitter Zac Best quickly dropped back to fourth, while Brad Vaughan made a lightning start, surging clear to build a margin of more than a second within three laps. From there, Vaughan controlled proceedings at the front, stretching his advantage to nearly four seconds with five minutes remaining.
Further back, Ben Gomersall endured a costly moment at Turn 2, locking the right-front heavily and running wide onto the grass, which cost him valuable ground to the leaders.
Further down the order, Hodson found himself locked in a train of cars, sitting in no man’s land with a three-second buffer to the car ahead and a four-second cushion behind.
In the closing stages, his Matt Stone Racing teammate Tommy Smith endured a moment on debut, understeering off the circuit and scrambling to gather the car before rejoining the tarmac. Smith ultimately came home 20th, five positions adrift of where he had started.
Vaughan delivered a faultless drive from lights to flag, sealing a commanding three-and-a-half-second victory over Tickford’s Reuben Goodall and Anderson Motorsport’s Ryan Tomsett.
Hodson, meanwhile, brought his car home in 13th at the chequered flag.
After the race, Hodson revealed a combination of setbacks had stalled his progress from the outset. A poor launch cost him early track position, while a cool suit failure and a rear roll bar stuck at full stiff compounded the challenge, placing significant strain on the rear tyres and limiting his ability to move forward.
“Tough day that one. Couldn’t get it right myself in quali and qualified 11th. Had a bad start in the race, followed by the cool suit failing and our rear roll bar stuck at full stiff, which made it rather hard to manage the rear tyre. Race car is good, just gotta put it together.”
Race 2:
Race 2 of Round 1 of the Super2 Series at Sydney Motorsport Park delivered plenty of action from lights out, with Ayrton Hodson fighting through the field despite a challenging weekend.
Ben Gomersall launched superbly from the start to lead the field into Turn 1, while pole-sitter Lochie Dalton was immediately under pressure. Dalton lost track position off the line and only just held onto second at the exit of Turn 1 as Reuben Goodall loomed large on his outside.
Further back, Hodson began the race from 18th on the grid and wasted no time making progress. Within the opening corners, he cleared Alice Buckley to move into 17th, settling into the early rhythm as the race intensified at the front.
Up front, it quickly became a three-car fight for the lead. Gomersall, Dalton and Goodall ran nose-to-tail, separated by just 1.2 seconds as they traded fastest sectors and applied relentless pressure on one another.
The complexion of the race changed on Lap 6 when a safety car was deployed with 28 minutes remaining. Buckley had beached her car deep in the gravel trap, requiring recovery and bunching the field back together.
When racing resumed with 19 minutes to go, Dalton wasted no time making his move. In a decisive lunge into Turn 1, he wrestled the lead away from Gomersall as the pair pushed to the limit on the restart.
Hodson also capitalised on the green-flag action, slicing past Ryan Tomsett and Tommy Smith within a lap and a half to climb to 15th. It was a determined charge as he looked to salvage valuable positions.
With seven minutes remaining, Dalton had stretched his advantage to three seconds, while Nash Morris moved into second ahead of Gomersall in the fight for the podium.
For Hodson, however, the closing stages proved difficult. After making early gains, he slipped back to 17th and ultimately crossed the line in that position, hampered by steering issues in the final race of the weekend.
“Tough weekend, had a damper issue in quali and got smoked in the back early on in Race ,2 knocking the LR out, giving us some rear steer which made it a long race,” Hodson explained.
Despite the setbacks, Hodson banked valuable experience from a bruising season opener and will look to rebound when the Super2 Series heads to Darwin for Round 2 on June 19–21.
