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Moffat Wins in Adelaide to Take Runner-Up Spot in Trans Am Series
November 21, 2024
James Moffat put his best foot forward to take out the round win at the final round of the season for the Trico Trans Am Series, and claimed second overall for the year in what was a close title fight.
Our quartet of drivers greeted the Adelaide Street Circuit with varying levels of experience, Moffat with plenty under his belt while Tom Davies and Edan Thornburrow tackled the Adelaide streets for the first time. Brett Holdsworth had the unique advantage of being just one of three drivers on the grid who had contested the one previous Trans Am round in Adelaide, back at the series’ debut in 2020.
Practice ran largely trouble free, with the Valvoline duo of Moffat and Thornburrow fourth and fifth on combined practice times ahead of Davies in eighth and Holdsworth in 11th. An engine issue for Davies though in Practice 2 ruled him out of qualifying as the team worked hard to get his car out in time for Race 1 later on Friday.
Moffat qualified third fastest, with Thornburrow in seventh. Holdsworth encountered some mechanical gremlins and was resigned to the back of the grid with Davies.
An exciting opening race saw Holdsworth and Davies go on a charge with both drivers coming from the back to finish in 11th and 12th, both up 10 places. Thornburrow showed strong pace as well as he moved forward to finish in fifth, with Moffat picking up a place to second.
Race 2 was playing out in similar fashion with all of our drivers moving forward, but a big accident that left oil all over the road quickly neutralised the race and resulted in no points being awarded. Davies was left with nowhere to go and picked up some minor damage, while Holdsworth was one of the only drivers being the incident to sneak through unscathed.
The final race of the season got underway with Moffat leaping into the race lead early on, a spot which he held comfortably through to the chequered flag. It gave Moffat the best opportunity to snatch the overall series victory, but our closest rival all season – Todd Hazelwood – finished second, which gave him enough points to take out the series.
Thornburrow and Davies battled each other through to the end, finishing in sixth and seventh ahead of Holdsworth in 13th.
For the series, Moffat takes second place with James Golding in fourth despite missing the final round of the season. Thornburrow takes eighth for the season, with Davies in 13th and Holdsworth 20th after joining us in Queensland. Tim Slade finishes 12th after contesting the first four rounds.
The Trico Trans Am Series returns in 2025 with the season opener at Race Tasmania from March 22-23.