Kody Garland’s Baptism by Fire

Aussie Racing Cars Round 3 Darwin Triple Crown NT 14-16 June

Aussie Racing Cars Championship Series Round 3 proved to be a real ‘baptism by fire’ on the second day for the MTA NSW sponsored driver, Kody Garland and his Racing Team!

Despite having to replace the entire engine between Race 1 and Race 2 on Saturday, Kody and the team hammered on from a 16^th start position on Sunday morning to finish in 13th place.  Garland pushed on to make his way up three places. Unfortunately, by then, the group ahead, including the top 12 cars running line-astern, had advanced too far in the critical time needed for Kody to close the gap.

 

“I was in a great dice with Tony Quinn for many of those early laps. I found it impossible to get by him around the back of the track and then when we came onto the long straight, he would just power away from me– it was frustrating!,” said Kody Garland.

The last race was an even a greater test of resilience as Kody was caught up in a multi-car collision on the opening lap after starting 19^th meaning, he was forced to visit the pits before returning to the race.

“There was a multi car tangle at turn six on the opening lap which brought out a brief safety car and left some with damage. The melee appeared to be triggered by contact between Charlotte Poynting (Mustang) and Craig Dontas (Camaro) which checked up Tony Quinn (Mustang), Craig Thompson (Mustang), Jeff Watters (Altima), Ian Chivas (Altima), Brad Woods (Camaro) and Kody Garland (Camaro).”

Kody added, “Wow that was a bit of a hectic race! We had great potential in the second race and the car was on rails, had a great start and made up a few spots then got hit in the rear in the hairpin which caused the damage, as a result of that I had to pit. I came out of the pits in last by half a lap, caught the field and passed 10 cars then got spun by another car when I was passed them so I lost 4 spots then gained another 6! Made some good passes and learned a lot over the weekend.”

MTA NSW congratulates Kody Garland and his team for an incredible 11 laps run in just 14:53.0521 a mere 0.1798 seconds behind 1^st position.  Congratulations to winners Justin Ruggier (Mustang), Kel Treseder (Camaro) and in third Paul Morris (Altima).

The next Aussie Racing Car round is the QLD SuperSprint in July 26-28.

Interview link:

https://www.facebook.com/AussieRacingCars/videos/2716494481697421/