The off-season was short and brutal. After blowing up my old car at the last round, we spent the break completely rebuilding: fresh motor, fresh gearbox, new bushes, solid mounts — essentially a brand-new car. I arrived at Mallala nervous but excited, knowing I’d be learning both car and track on the fly.
Practice was about treating the car like a test session, ironing out the inevitable teething issues. At one point, vibrations shook my driver cooling system loose, and later I broke the shifter cable bearings with an overzealous gear change. Thankfully, it was a quick fix back in the garage, but it set the tone — Mallala was not going to make things easy.
Qualifying turned out to be my most frustrating session. Fighting a sticky gearbox, I missed multiple gears and ruined what could have been my best lap. The hot track conditions didn’t help, and inexperience with the car showed through.
I ended up with a 1:35 qualifying time, well below what I’d hoped for. Seeing my name at the bottom of the timing board was crushing — easily the lowest point of the weekend, and one of the toughest moments of my rookie season so far.
Grid nerves set in as I lined up for my very first live race in Excels. My launch was solid, but a slow second-gear shift killed the momentum. With confidence in the gearbox low, I left it in third for sections where second would have been quicker. It wasn’t fast, but the priority was survival.
It turned into a lonely race — off the pace, but keeping it clean and bringing the car home. Sometimes, especially in a rookie debut, just making the finish line is the win.
By Race 2, a few drivers were out of position due to DNFs and technical issues, so the grid reshuffled. Once again, I lost spots off the start, but picked my way back through as incidents unfolded ahead.
The ongoing battle with second gear came to a head when I stripped the threads right out of the gear knob. Shifting became awkward, but I kept pushing. My lap times improved into the 1:33s, which, considering the 40+°C heat and my lack of seat time, was a small step forward.
The weekend wrapped with my first-ever night race under lights. Cooler conditions and growing confidence transformed the experience. For the first time that weekend, I felt like I was racing the track rather than wrestling the car.
The glare from the stadium lighting made visibility tricky, but I leaned on track knowledge to stay consistent. My gear changes were smoother, I attacked the curbs harder, and most importantly — I was enjoying it. Crossing the line under the lights felt like a huge achievement.
Round 1 was a rollercoaster: brutal heat, gearbox battles, frustration in qualifying, but also resilience, improvements, and the thrill of finishing my first full round.
A huge thank you to my teammate Sam for helping rebuild the car, and to my sponsors for making this season possible:
Exo Terra, Aqua One, API, Seaview Aquarium, KJ Built, and AquaLabs.
This was just the beginning. With lessons learned and confidence slowly building, I can’t wait to carry the momentum into Round 2 at The Bend International Circuit.
