Cox wins again as Holdsworth gets a 5-second penalty
Jordan Cox claimed his second victory of the day and Alfa Romeo’s third in the weekend as he was promoted to first place in Symmons Plains Race 3. Cox had crossed the finishing line inches behind his fellow Alfa colleague Lee Holdsworth, but the winner of yesterday’s Race 1 was given a five-second penalty for jump-start and so dropped to third behind Chaz Mostert.
For the third time in the weekend Cox made a better start than Holdsworth and led the field, while Mostert had to retake third position from Luke King. Behind them there was a tough fight for the positions between the Hyundai cars of Nathan Morcom, Josh Buchan and Brad Shiels and the Peugeot of Jason Bargwanna.
Aaron Cameron and James Hanson began to recover from 15th and 16th on the grid, steadily moving up.
The two leading Alfa Romeo cars pulled away, with Cox under pressure from Holdsworth; Mostert followed two seconds behind in third, while Morcom was chasing King for fourth.
In lap 13, Hanson overtook Cameron for P9 and closed in on Shiels. Two laps later Hanson dived on the inside of Shiels and passed him for P8; Cameron benefited from the situation and passed Shiels as well, moving up into P9. Moments later Shiels pitted with engine misfire and rejoined after three laps.
In lap 20, Hanson climbed another place to seventh, ahead of Jason Bargwanna.
With only two laps to go, Holdsworth stole the lead from Cox and beat him under the chequered flag by a narrow margin.
During the final lap, Cameron, James Moffat and Michael Caruso all managed to pass Jason Bargwanna, but all of a sudden the latter lost control of his Peugeot, spun and t-boned Moffat’s Renault.
The championship will resume at Phillip Island on February 19/21.
Symmons Plains – Race 3
1. Jordan Cox (Garry Rogers Motorsport, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce), 25 laps
2. Chaz Mostert (Melbourne Performance Centre, Audi RS 3 LMS), 2.8725
3. Lee Holdsworth (Ashley Seward Motorsport, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce), 4.4219
4. Luke King (Melbourne Performance Centre, Audi RS 3 LMS), 10.4077
5. Nathan Morcom (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 12.1675
Championship points
1. Jordan Cox 126 pts; 2. Lee Holdsworth 120; 3. Chaz Mostert 106
Picture: TCR Australia
