Bargwanna runs away with Phillip Island V8TC Race 1

Anderson Motorsport’s Jude Bargwanna has run away with the win in Race 1 of Round 1 of the Kumho Tyre V8 Touring Car Series at Phillip Island.

When the lights went out, Jim Pollicina (VE Commodore) bolted from the second row and into the lead, ahead of Jamie Tilley (FG Falcon) and Bargwanna (FG Falcon), the pole-sitter.

The latter got back ahead of Tilley as they exited Southern Loop for the first time, then overtook Pollicina as they turned into Doohan Corner on Lap 2.

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Tilley followed Bargwanna past the ex-Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Commodore and Pollicina lost another spot when Ray Hislop (FG Falcon) went underneath him moments later at Miller Corner.

Despite rapidly losing those three positions, Pollicina was able to stick with Hislop and reclaimed third spot on Lap 6 at Doohan Corner, as Bargwanna stretched his lead over Tilley beyond two seconds.

On Lap 9, Hislop outbraked Pollicina, but also himself, at Miller Corner (Turn 4) and could not complete the pass for third.

Exactly a lap later, Hislop lit up the rears of the ex-Ford Performance Racing Falcon on exit and spun before resuming in sixth once he righted Car #23.

Bargwanna was six seconds in the clear when Tilley had the right-front tyre on his #57 Ford fail on Lap 12, meaning Pollicina inherited a distant second place.

The official margin of victory was 24.3947s when the chequered flag flew after 13 laps, with Hislop finishing third, from Tony Auddino (BF Falcon) and Tony Evangelou (BA Falcon).

Tilley was a DNF, as were Peter Abood (VE Commodore) and Antonio Molluso (FG Falcon), with Jacob Khouri a DNS after crashing his BF Falcon in Qualifying.

Race 2 kicks off tomorrow’s Stan Sport coverage of the Shannons SpeedSeries at 09:30 AEST, with the official start for the 10-lap contest scheduled for 09:50 local time/AEST.

International viewers can watch for free on Speedcafe.

Results: Race 1

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver	Car	Cls	Laps	Race time
1	79	Anderson Motorsport	Jude Bargwanna	Ford Falcon FG	C	13	21:00.3436
2	7	MoComm Motorsports Comms	Jim Pollicina	Holden Commodore VE	K	13	21:24.7383
3	23	RHM / Nulon	Ray Hislop	Ford Falcon FG	K	13	21:40.0950
4	4	Rightway Industrial	Tony Auddino	Ford Falcon BF	K	13	21:40.2156
5	6	ANT Racing	Tony Evangelou	Ford Falcon BA	K	13	21:45.3826
DNF	57	Notlaw Racing	Jamie Tilley	Ford Falcon FG	C	12	19:38.5633
DNF	67	Mr HDT Race Cars	Peter Abood	Holden Commodore VE	K	10	18:33.4974
DNF	50	Burson Auto Parts	Antonio Molluso	Ford Falcon FG	C

Series points

Pos	Driver	Pts
1	Jude Bargwanna	42
2	Jim Pollicina	35
3	Ray Hislop	31
4	Tony Auddino	27
5	Tony Evangelou	23
6	Jamie Tilley	0
7	Peter Abood	0
8	Antonio Molluso	0
9	Jacob Khouri	0

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