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[AMC] Lauren Gray takes out Aust..
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LAUREN GRAY TAKES OUT AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS TITLE
MELBOURNIAN LAUREN GRAY has taken title glory in the Australian Manufacturers Championship after clinching Class E with a stunning performance at Sandown Raceway this weekend.
After a tough year-long fight with the factory-supported Hyundai Lantra of Jamie Augustine, the 21 year old from Altona in Melbourne’s western suburbs clinched the class title with a dominating victory in the first of two one-hour races held this weekend.
In race two on Sunday, Gray backed up her race one performance by pulling away from her class rival to record another win – and an eighth place outright finish.
The Sandown results capped off a stunning year for Gray who, despite driving the smallest capacity car on the grid (1.5 litres), toppled some much bigger, more powerful and more expensive machinery all year long.
The season is made even more impressive given Gray’s Echo finished well within the top eight outright in the Australian Manufacturers championship standings – behind cars like Turbocharged Mitsubishi Lancers, Subaru WRXs and the factory supported Hyundai Tiburon Coupe. Gray also contributed strongly to Toyota’s strong performance in the Manufacturers points’ championship.
Lauren hailed the performance as the result of three years worth of hard work from her family operation, Lauren Gray Motorsport.
“It’s fantastic to have won the class and it’s the result of three years of hard work and a lot of development on the car,” Gray said.
“It’s been a very competitive for the championship and I’ve been racing the Hyundai for the Class E honours since the first round at Phillip Island right up to the races here at Sandown. It’s been a great fight and it’s exciting to have come though to win.
“To finish as high as we did in the overall standings shows the approach that we took this year; we finished races and that was the key to our results. The car handled brilliantly and this weekend at Sandown it was the best it’s ever been – it was faultless.”
Lauren also said that things looked positive for next season, with the development work on the new Toyota Corolla progressing well.
“The new car has had a pretty solid debut and looks good for the future. Dad has been doing a lot of work on suspension settings and it is our plan to race that car next year as well as competing at the Bathurst 12 hour race, after an off season full of setup and development work.
“I have to thank all the people that have helped me this year,” Gray added.
“Huge thanks to Mum, Dad and Maddison, Will Orders, Stuart and Donna, Tony and Rose, Peter and Brian, Diane & kids, Tony Davidovski, Terry Stott, Daryl and Justin Tate and Bill and Val Maddocks."
Lauren Gray Motorsport would also like to thank the continued sponsorship support of Rockfort, Stuart Robson Wholesale Cars, Fabraications, Powcon, Optus and the Kingsville Accident Repair Centre.
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