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Our thanks to JDimagez for providing these images. Find him at jdimagez.com
We’re back from a great weekend of historic touring car racing at the 2026 Winton Festival of Speed, hosted by the VHRR over July 23 – 26 at Australia’s Action Track – Winton Raceway.
A cool but sunny circuit welcomed us on Friday morning, Terry Lawlor sure footed in the Shell Sierra and topping the time sheets, with Adrian Allisey in the Walkinshaw Commodore and Chris Stillwell in the new B & H Sierra close behind. Anthony Tenkate in a Commodore went quickest in Group C, with Jacob Khouri in his new Yellow Pages RX7 close behind. It was a rocky start for Michael Logiudice with throttle issues and Glen Gerstel facing problems with his brake master cylinder.
Race one on Friday afternoon saw Lawlor, David Towe in the JPS BMW and Stillwell close out Group A, with Aaron Hodges in the Mustang very close behind. Anthony Tenkate led Group C with Glen Gerstel and Justin Nilsson in the Nissan Exa close behind. The throttle issues from qualifying seemed contagious, Adrian Allisey unfortunately failing to proceed with throttle cable problems.
On Saturday morning we headed out for race two, the order at the front of Group A remaining consistent with Lawlor, Towe and Stillwell leading the way. Gerstel earned a win in Group C, Tony Sawford’s Torana in second and Tenkate now in third. Greg Boyle enjoyed a great run in the invited Nissan GTR and we were pleased to have him mixing it up with us.
Race three was set to be a feature twilight race on Saturday evening, starting at 5:10 pm with sunset falling at 5:25 pm. Earlier in the afternoon David Towe was seen doing a rain dance, and just ten minutes before the start the heavens opened and a light shower fell, making conditions very slippery.
Terry Lawlor elected not to risk the precious Sierra, just back from a 12-month restoration, in the treacherous conditions. Towe showed the way in very tricky conditions ahead of Stillwell and guest driver Elliot Barber in a very fast VK Commodore owned by Peter Xiberras. Tenkate was back at the front of Group C, with Sawford and Khouri behind. Special mention to Trent Harrison, who did very well in the Group A Alfa Romeo GTV6 owned by his father Hugh.
Our penultimate event saw Adrian Allisey in the Walkinshaw finally claim a win, with Towe and Harrison following. This time it was Nilsson in the Exa at the front of Group C, with Tenkate and Gerstel close behind. Terry Lawlor started from the rear of the grid and managed to work his way up to fourth, but was penalised 15 seconds for crossing the blend line relegating him to ninth. Ian Ross suffered the same penalty as well.
The final race was a nail biter! Lawlor started ninth and blitzed through to the top three over the course of just a few laps. Then it was on, with Allisey, Towe and Lawlor trading positions many times and showing off some good close and clean racing. Allisey made the Walkinshaw extremely wide and finally won out from Lawlor by four hundredths of a second, Towe finishing third. Nilsson picked up his second Group C win of the weekend, with Tenkate and Gerstel close behind.
Special mentions to Don Dimitiadis in the Lansvale Smash repairs Commodore and Peter Xiberras in the Bob Jane VK Commodore, who scored personal best times over the weekend. Justin Nilsson also broke his own class lap record, twice!
Blendline TV broadcast the meeting live, and you can find the archives of their stream on YouTube. Click here for Saturday, and here for Sunday.
All in all, a great weekend of good close, clean racing. Our thanks to the VHRR for hosting another magic Festival of Speed.
Bring on Muscle Car Masters, which is just a few weeks away August 29 – 30, 2026.
