JUSTIN GRANT IS 2024 AUSTRALIAN SPEEDCAR CHAMPION!

Media release by DTN Media.  All Photography courtesy of Cochrane Photography.

On a night that produced elation and heartbreak, as only a national title event can provide, it was American Justin Grant who stood tall as the Mobil 1 Australian Speedcar Champion at Perth Motorplex, Saturday night, March 9.

Grant was strong all weekend, though results didn’t always go his way, but in the end, he drove a cool and calculated race to fight off all other competitors and claimed Australia’s number one Speedcar prize.

The forty-lap national title feature race certainly had its fair share of drama from the get go, with pole sitter Logan Seavey (Logan Seavey Racing), who had won the pole shuffle event just minutes earlier, withdrew with mechanical gremlins, before the start the race.

This meant Dan Golding Racing teammates Daniel Harding and Kaiden Manders shared the front row, but as the race went green, they quickly dropped back as another local hope in Tom Payet (Bennett Motorsport) shot into the lead.

Kiwi Michael Pickens (Graham Jones Racing) was also on the charge and advanced from eighth to second by lap two.

With five laps completed, Payet led Pickens, his Graham Jones Racing team mate Alex Bright, Harding and Dyson Motorsports entry Grant. .

Grant began to pick up the pace, getting by Harding before Harding spun with eight laps complete to bring out the yellows.

Payet led the restart, now with Pickens and Bright following as Grant continued on in fourth, closing at a rate of knots on Bright and then drove underneath him in turns three and four with twenty nine laps to go.

Pickens closed on Payet at the front and they ran side by side with Payet, but Payet closed the door.

Grant took then drove under Pickens and set out after Payet.

Lapped traffic came into play.

Lap after lap they weaved through, while behind them Manders was coming back into the fray, the only car moving high and passing Pickens for third at the halfway mark, but the move didn’t last as Manders slowed and brought out the cautions as he headed infield.

The emotion of the race clearly showed as he headed infield, the emotion of the race clearly showing as he sat dejectedly on the infield ruing what might have been.

Back on track and there was just over half the race to go and it would be Payet leading away Grant, Pickens, Bright and Jade Avedisian (Aved Racing).

Payet maintained the lead on the restart, but Grant stayed with him, sticking the nose under several times as Pickens also came into the picture.

With fifteen to go Grant was all over Payet’s tail, Grant then winding up to go round the outside when the yellows came on again, this time for Joel Watson (Watson Racing Team) who spun in turn four and was lucky to be avoided by the quickly advancing leaders.

Fifteen laps remained on the restart, with Kaidon Brown (Kaidon Brown Racing) now trying to make his presence felt as he went around the outside of the leaders only to lose ground at the same time as Payet lost the lead to Grant.

Payet dropped back through the field and headed infield with a flat tyre, the pain of his loss etched on his face as he, too, joined the growing car park.

Grant was now in the lead ahead of Bright, Avedisian, Pickens, Nicholas Rowe and the charging Robert Heard. Brown fought back and got back past Heard, setting out after Row, but up front Grant had a decisive advantage.

With ten to go the yellows were out again as Alfonso Guadagnino (Guadagnino Racing Team) got caught up in a melee.

The restart saw Grant again lead but the red lights soon appeared after Heard clipped the infield curb, got up on two wheels, and rolled heavily. (It was the only rollover for the national title weekend).

It was becoming a war of attrition at this point, with more drivers heading infield under yellows, still ten laps to go and Grant maintained the lead Bright, Avedisian, Pickens, Rowe and Brown.

Avedisian put the pressure on Bright for second but couldn’t quite make the move stick: lap after lap the duo battled, but still no move could be made while Pickens also closed on the battling pair once more.

Avedisian finally shot past Bright for second, Pickens following through but by this stage Grant was well ahead.

With four to go the yellows came out for one final time, this time for Alex Bright who was unable to safely make it to the infield with a flat tyre, seeing Grant lead away Avedisian, Pickens, Brown, Rowe and the hard charging Matt Jackson who after missing night one, was charging through from position twenty four on the grid.

In the final stanza, Grant pulled away quickly of Avedisian, the order remaining unchanged as Grant was crowned the 2024 Australian Speedcar Champion ahead of Jade Avediaian and Michael Pickens.

It was an epic weekend of racing and we thank all the race teams from near and far as well as the whole Perth Motorplex team for helping us to put on a worthy show!

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Official Results

Heat 7, 8 laps: 1. Daniel Harding, 2. Tom Payet, 3. Beau Doyle, 4. Alfonso Guadagnino, 5. Aron Sharp, 6. Matt Jackson, 7. Joel Watson, 8. Zoe Pearce, 9. Lee Austen, 10. Bart Curnow. DNS: Cody Nash. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 1.047 Fastest Lap: 16.334, Daniel Harding

Heat 8, 8 laps: 1. Kaiden Manders, 2. Jade Avedisian, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Kaidon Brown, 5. Rob Golding, 6. Patrick Watson, 7. Jake Robinson, 8. Stuart Yates. DQ: Cory Smith. DNS: Daniel Whitley. Total Time: 2.10.325 Winning Margin: 2.226 Fastest Lap: 16.152, Kaiden Manders.

Heat 9, 8 laps: 1. Michael Pickens, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Alex Bright, 4. Tyson Bryden, 5. Keenan Fleming, 6. Nicholas Rowe, 7. Robert Heard, 8. Glen Mears, 9. Gary Mann. DNS: Declan Minchin. Total Time: 2.15.185 Winning Margin: 0.112 Fastest Lap: 16.301, Logan Seavey.

Heat 10, 8 laps: 1. Tom Payet, 2. Kaiden Manders, 3. Jade Avedisian, 4. Kaidon Brown, 5. Aron Sharp, 6. Beau Doyle, 7. Alfonso Guadagnino, 8. Jake Robinson, 9. Bart Curnow. DNS: Daniel Whitley. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 1.127 Fastest Lap: 16.305, Tom Payet.

Heat 11, 8 laps: 1. Justin Grant, 2. Alex Bright, 3. Nicholas Rowe, 4. Patrick Watson. 5. Glen Mears, 6. Rob Golding, 7. Cory Smith, 8. Gary Mann. DNF: Stuart Yates (6), Keenan Fleming (5). Total Time: 2.12.444 Winning Margin: 3.635 Fastest Lap: 16.336, Justin Grant.

Heat 12, 8 laps: 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Michael Pickens, 3. Daniel Harding, 4. Joel Watson, 5. Robert Heard, 6. Matthew Jackson, 7. Zoe Pearce, 8. Lee Austen. DNF: Tyson Bryden (2). DNS: Cody Nash, Declan Minchin. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 0.671 Fastest Lap: 16.440, Logan Seavey.

Pole Shuffle 1, 2 laps: 1. Justin Grant, 2. Michael Pickens. Total Time: 32.984. Winning Margin: 0.639 Fastest Lap: 16.358, Justin Grant.

Pole Shuffle 2, 2 laps: 1. Justin Grant, 2. Alex Bright. Total Time: 33.028 Winning Margin: 0.106 Fastest Lap: 16.300, Justin Grant.

Pole Shuffle 3, 2 laps: 1. Jade Avedisian, 2. Justin Grant. Total Time: 33.049 Winning Margin: 0.109 Fastest Lap: 16.341, Justin Grant.

Pole Shuffle 4, 2 laps: 1. Jade Avedisian, 2. Tom Payet Total Time: 32.729 Winning Margin: 1.419 Fastest Lap: 16.345, Jade Avedisian.

Pole Shuffle 5, 2 laps: 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Jade Avedisian. Total Time: 32.499 Winning Margin: 0.656 Fastest Lap: 16.166, Logan Seavey

Pole Shuffle 6, 2 laps: 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Daniel Harding. Total Time: 32.423 Winning Margin: 0.001 Fastest Lap: Daniel Harding, 15.994

Pole Shuffle 7, 2 laps: 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Kaiden Manders Total Time: 32.688 Winning Margin: 0.345 Fastest Lap: 16.172, Logan Seavey.

Last Chance Qualifier, 8 laps: 1. Beau Doyle, 2. Jake Robinson, 3. Gary Mann, 4. Matthew Jackson, 5. Cory Smith, 6. Stuart Yates. DNF: Bart Curnow (0). DNS: Tyson Bryden. Total Time: 2.15.774. Winning Margin: 5.021 Fastest Lap: 16.793, Beau Doyle.

Australian Speedcar Championship Feature, 40 laps: 1. Justin Grant, 2. Jade Avedisian, 3. Michael Pickens, 4. Kaidon Brown, 5. Nicholas Rowe, 6. Matthew Jackson, 7. Keenan Fleming, 8. Beau Doyle, 9. Tyson Bryden, 10. Aron Sharp, 11. Joel Watson, 12. Cory Smith, 13. Gary Mann, 14. Jake Robinson, 15. Lee Austen, 16. Patrick Watson. DNF: Alex Bright (35), Glen Mears (30), Robert Heard (30), Alfonso Guadagnino (30), Tom Payet (26), Kaiden Manders (19), Rob Golding (17), Stuart Yates (16), Zoe Pearce (15), Daniel Harding (. DNS: Logan Seavey. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 2.013 Fastest Lap: 16.074, Justin Grant.