Huge VMRC Opener at Winton
Images: Noah Thorley
The first round of the 2026 Victorian Motor Racing Championship (VMRC) took place at Winton Motor Raceway on the weekend, it featured new names, new cars, and even new formats.
Sports Compact
As it was throughout 2025, Sports Compact was fought up front between James Harris and Linda Devlin.
Saturday saw Devlin take the honours in both races driving her John Cooper Works Mini, with Harris forced to settle for second position on both occasions.
In the off-season Nicholas Jones upgraded from a Mazda 323 to a Volkswagen Scirocco and was a force in the first race on Sunday.
Race 3 on Sunday morning was won by Harris. Importantly Jones got into second and Devlin was unable to make her way back through, she was forced to settle for third.
The final encounter was one to remember, Devlin pulled away early on, however lap after lap Harris hunted her down and set up a thrilling final lap duel.
The pair spent a large portion of the last lap side-by-side. Crucially exiting the final corner Devlin missed a gear, handing the final race win to Harris.
Although Harris got the better race results, in a twist of fate Devlin took the round honours. Devlin was awarded four bonus points for setting the fastest lap in all of the races, as a result she pipped Harris to the round win by a solitary point.
Jones finished in the top three in all four races, enough to secure third for the round. Multiple-time champion Steve Howard was fourth.
Vic V8s
It was a topsy turvy weekend in Vic V8s with unpredictability playing out across the course of the round.
Race 1 of the weekend went the way of Aaron Wheatley in his VY Commodore, he took the win by over 19s as Greg Lynch had to contend with overheating issues after a great battle early on. Third place went the way of Brett Lehmann.
The second encounter again saw Wheatley prevail, this time by an even bigger margin of over half a minute. Lynch was sitting in second when he made an error and fell off the road at Turn 6 late in the race, this handed Lehmann second, Lynch came home third.
The weekend flipped on its head on Sunday morning when Wheatley retired from the lead with a driveshaft issue. Lynch was there to benefit and secured the win, Lehmann was second, with Gary Finemore rounding out the top three in his Ford XB Coupe.
From pole Lynch converted Race 4 to victory, Mark Kakouri in his VH Commodore was second, with Lehmann third.
Lynch was awarded the overall round honours and the Sportsman class, Lehmann won the Championship category.
HERA Excels
For the first time in a long time the Trophy and Masters grids were combined in the Excel Series, this resulted in a stellar field of 33 cars which provided plenty of on-track entertainment.
Ethan Grigg-Gault prevailed in three of the four affairs across the course of the weekend, with Jenson Teleskivi prevailing in the other.
Grigg-Gault took out Race 1 with a comfortable buffer over the rest of the field, securing the win by 5s from the scrapping pair of Ryan Phillips and Teleskivi. The former ended up second by less than 0.3s.
Race 2 saw Grigg-Gault win by a similar margin, with Phillips and Teleskivi rounding out the top three once again.
The third encounter saw things change; this time it was Teleskivi that prevailed by a margin of 1.6s.
Again, Phillips was again the bridesmaid in second, while Aydin Karadagli beat Grigg-Gault to third by 0.3s. Grigg-Gault recovered to fourth after collision on the opening lap of the race.
From fourth on the grid Grigg-Gault had his work cut out in the final race, but he prevailed to win his third race of the round by 1.8s.
Phillips was second, with Karadagli third. Teleskivi crossed the line in 23rd.
There were three different race winners in the Masters class, Boyd Simpson was victorious in Race 1, Tony Venier in the middle two affairs and Matt Seymour prevailed in the final.
Victorian Super Tin Tops
Wayne Alway proved that consistency is key in the Victorian Super Tin Tops, he did not take a single race win but won the round overall.
Peter Ryder won both of the affairs on Saturday in his Nissan Silvia S13, however he failed to start either of Sunday’s races.
Alway in his trusty Mazda RX7 finished Race 1 in second, and Race 2 third behind Barney Hogan in an Audi RS3 TCR car.
Hogan took the two wins on Sunday, however the loss of points by retiring in Race 1 meant that Alway claimed the round victory.
BMW E30s
After a year away Alex Jory returned to the BMW E30 paddock and won the opening round of the season.
Jory built up to it over the weekend, he finished third in Race 1, second in Race 2, before winning both of Sunday’s encounters.
Benjamin Munro won the two Saturday races, however a retirement in the final race of the weekend cost him dearly.
One Lap Shootout
Prizes were on the line in the inaugural One Lap Shootout. Selected drivers were given one lap on Sunday morning to set the fastest lap possible, similar to a Top 10 Shootout. The fastest driver in each category was awarded a discounted entry for a future VMRC round.
Grigg-Gault prevailed in the Excel Trophy class, while Boyd Simpson won in Masters.
Jory pipped Munro by 0.12s in the BMW E30s as Ryder won the discount in Super TT.
The biggest winning margin was in Vic V8s, Lynch taking it by 4.3s. While the smallest win came in Sports Compact. Jones pipped Harris by 0.024s.
Once again, the feedback on the new AASA rules and regulations was incredibly positive from competitors and crews.
The BMW E30s and Super TT categories shared the track all weekend and notably had separate rolling starts. Two pace cars were dispatched, one for each category, with the grids starting the race half a lap apart.
There was a great attendance at the Saturday night barbeque in which AASA Competition and Commercial Director Marcos Ambrose hosted a AASA Q&A to answer all of the questions regarding the Australian Auto-Sport Alliance.