OzRacingWrap

Watching the reserves in any sport is often a chance to see the stars of the future and also to see the sport played in a more free and open fashion.  That was certainly the case with the Fujitsu Series on the weekend.

Furture stars were on display and the audacity of the some of the passing was the stuff of no fear.  Of course some of those passes didn't stick with consequences all round, however the fact they were attempted was half the fun.  It also meant the Stewards were kept busy looking at incidents from all three races over the weekend.

Through it all Championship leader Andrew Thompson picked his way through to win the round following 2 wins on the Sunday in his Monster Commodore and stand on the brink of the title.  His lead at the end of the round was 233 points over his nearest rival David Russell.

Race 1 saw the Stewards handing a penalty to Marcus Zukanovic Car #71 who admitted that he had driven in a careless manner and made contact on Car #27 Tim Blanchard and then contact on Car #92 Taz Douglas, the Stewards imposed the penalty of the loss of 25 Championship points.

At the end of the race the car of Russell lost it's right rear wheel coming through the last turn.  The Stewards took a dim view of the incident and imposed a $5,000 fine with $4,000 held over.

The drama started early in the day with Sunday reverse grid race.  Bathurst winner Nick Percat and Russell were both involved in incidents that took out Percat, David Wall and Scott McLaughlin.  Also caught up in the drama were  Jack Perkins and Chaz Mostert forcing them to mount charges back through the field.  Russell was handed a pit lane penalty for his part in the turn 3 incident and Percat was deducted 25 Championship points.

Percat then backed that up with a first turn incident with Tim Blanchard in race 3.  The race also finished with a incident with Rodney James spinning Paul Morris on the warm down lap.  Stewards indicated both incidents will be investigated at the next round.

The series will conclude in two weeks on the streets of Sydney's Olympic park at the Telstra 500, where Thompson only needs to 12th across the weekend to secure the Championship.