The Bathurst International was a successful weekend for Ryan and the Multispares Torana extending his lead in the series from 5 points to 78 points over John Bowe.
It didn’t come easy for Ryan after qualifying 10th on a drying track and having to fight his way forward. The Multispares Torana rolled out of the transporter fast with Ryan lapping only 2 tenths of a second off the all-time TCM lap record in practice 1, clearly the fastest car and .5 sec faster than Steve Johnson in 2nd.
Leading up to qualifying the rain came down so the field rolled out onto a very wet track but Ryan was comfortably second quickest and just waiting for the track to dry. Just as the track started to dry disaster struck with the power steering failing and he had to pit. As Ryan was coming into the pits someone crashed and the session was red flagged. We were hoping the session would time out while the accident was cleared, but that was not to be. With no steering Ryan had to watch from the pits with less than 4 minutes remaining. The track was drying quickly and Ryan dropped from 2nd to 10th.
First race up was the reverse grid trophy race where Ryan finished 2nd with the fastest lap of the race so he and the team were confident that he could race forward from 10th in race 1.
Starting 10th Ryan was cautious for the first couple of laps, just to be sure he didn’t get any damage then started to pick off the cars. By end of the race Ryan had passed John Bowe and finished 4th. With only a 5 point lead in the series it was important to just keep beating JB. First job accomplished.
Here is a link to watch 2 laps where Ryan catches and passes JB – Ryan Hansford Bathurst 2022 Touring Car Masters – YouTube
“I am pleased with that result. The Multispares Torana is fast, and if I get behind a 6Litre car down the straight and get towed along I can then pass them under brakes. “Said Ryan after the race
“I am quicker across the top of the mountain but there is nowhere to pass, so I’m just happy I was able to get back to 4th which is a good spot to start race 2.” he added
Race 2 was wet again and after getting a good start he passed a couple of cars but race leader Steve Johnson had already got a big gap so Ryan drove a smart race and finished 2nd.
Sadly for John Bowe he was called into the pits by the officials as his rain light was not working, so no points for the 5 time series winner.
The sun had come out for race 3 and the track dried quickly. With most of NSW copping a drenching, Bathurst was lucky to get a few breaks in the weather, so the TCM cars put on a terrific race. Ryan finished 2nd again to Steve Johnson, and once again got the fastest lap of the race which put him 2nd overall for the weekend. This meant that with Bowey’s DNF in the wet race, Ryan was now 78 points ahead with just the Adelaide 500 to run.
The last time the team raced in Adelaide was in 2020, where Ryan was in a class of his own, claiming pole position by .5 second then after being punted off the track by John Bowe in race 1 he drove from 14th to first in race 2 and won race 3 comfortably.
“I am really looking forward to Adelaide next weekend, (Dec 1 -4) said Ryan. Since we last raced there all the cars have improved, but with the new front shock absorbers we had made for Townsville,
I’m sure the Torana will be even better than in 2020 particuarly over the kerbs around the streets of Adelaide” Ryan added.
“My goal is to start on the front row and stay out of trouble but still race hard as I really love driving the Adelaide street track”
The whole weekend will be telecast live on Foxsports and Kayo.
And don’t forget to see all the updates on the Multispares Racing Facebook page.
