ALBURY driver Matt Chahda will be banking on better luck in round two of the Australian V8 Touring Car series at Winton in a week’s time.
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The have been 18 V8s entered for round four of the Shannons Nationals. They will compete in two races on the Sunday after practice on Friday and qualifying and race one on Saturday.
At the last round at Mallala, Chahda, 21, was right on the pace in his newly acquired BA Falcon V8, qualifying within hundredths of a second of taking pole for race one, before a loose wheel nut rubbed him of any chance of picking up points.
Things went better in race two and Chahda stormed from the back of the grid to finish third.
He finished third again in race three after starting from sixth.
That gave him 78 points to place him fourth on the championship ladder, 65 points behind series leader Ryan Simpson.
“The first race was disappointing — the car was quick straight off the trailer,” Chahda said.
“I ran it in the sports sedans races at the Winton round of the V8 Supercars, so we had more or less ironed out the bugs before heading to Adelaide. A loose wheel nut ruined what could have been an excellent weekend.
“I will be driving for the win at Winton,”
Matt Chahda Motorsport, the second V8 Supercar team to be based in Albury-Wodonga, along with main-game player Brad Jones Racing, has picked up more sponsorship and Chahda hopes to repay them.
“Albury Freight Distribution Centre, Bridge Road Brewers of Beechworth and North East Oil Distribution of Wodonga have joined regular sponsor EMA of Albury. The car will look great in its new livery.”
Chahda’s dad Amin, who also races V8s, said the team was waiting on new and different bits that would make the car race better over distance rather than make it quicker.
“We have fantastic support from Dick Johnson Racing which prepares our engines and gearboxes,” Amin said,
“BJR around the corner also helps out and we are grateful.”
Chahda’s BA Falcon, engineered this year by Dunlop Ser-ies driver Aaron Tebb, is the ex-Britek Motorsport car driven by BJR’s Jason Bright. It was also driven by Leanne Tander.
A full-time fabricator and technician in his family owned business Falcon Spares and Repairs, Matt Chahda fancies his chances next weekend.
“I have done a lot of kilometres around Winton, our home track, and if the car is as quick as it was at Mallala we are in with a chance,” he said.
Others events on the program will be for Australian super six touring cars, sports sedans, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, Formula Ford and Australian sports racer series.