Lillis/Callaghan hunt outright podium this weekend

Not only are they confident of taking out Class A2 of the Australian Production Car Series for the year this weekend, but Chris Lillis and Nathan Callaghan are also confident of landing outright podium places at the Wakefield Park event (18-19 November).

Trucking their Cachet Homes HSV VE GT SS3 across the nation from their West Australian home base, Lillis says his tyre and fuel package will be a positive rather than a negative on the tight Wakefield Park circuit.

“We showed at Winton that our car was more than capable of beating the smaller capacity competition at a place that was supposedly more suited to them,” Lillis said.

“We knew we had the pace at Phillip Island too but because others had tyre blowouts; we ran at a much more conservative pace when Nathan was in the car.

“We also made an extra stop for tyres, just to be on the safe side. Then we upped the pace in the final stint when young Tyler (Everingham) looked like he wanted to catch us,” Lillis added.

Lillis also remarked that the HSV will be better on its rubber than most would expect and there is the probability that they won’t have to change tyres in either of the 300 kilometre races.

“We also expect just to make the one stop in each, as we have a 100 litre fuel tank and can just top up at the driver change,” Lillis said.

“I am confident we can finish in the top three (overall). We can’t match the pace of the M4, nor probably the Focus, but I think we can match or better the Mercedes,” he said, referring to the BMW M4 of brothers Grant and Iain Sherrin, the Ford Focus RS of Super2 Series racer Nathan Morcom – who will be joined by ‘super sub’ racer Andre Heimgartner this weekend – and the Mercedes A45 of Rod Salmon and Will Brown – all entries in the hunt for the outright podium placings.

The Cachet Homes Motorsport team will take advantage of the non-compulsory Friday practice sessions to further improve the setup of the car with the help of its previous owner Matthew Holt.

“He is currently racing the newer VF model which is what we will be building for a full-on assault on the APCS next year, as well as the Bathurst 6 Hour,” Lillis confirmed.

“This year has been a toe-in-the-water exercise and it has been very rewarding for us as we can pick up the A2 season win.

“Next year with the VF with its lighter weight, bigger brakes and tyres, I am confident we can really take on the turbos at the front of the field,” he concluded.

The final round of the 2017 Australian Production Cars will be held across November 18 and 19 at Wakefield Park Raceway, with two x 300km races (one each day) to be completed over the weekend.

For more on the APCS, please visit www.australianproductioncars.com.au or www.facebook.com/AustralianProductionCars.