08 Oct PAUL BUCCINI TO CONTINUE A1 TITLE FIGHT WITH RENEWED VIGOUR
A1 championship leader Paul Buccini is heading to next weekend’s penultimate round of the 2024 Meguiar’s Australian Production Cars season – the Parramatta Vehicle Services Sydney Stoush at Sydney Motorsport Park (October 18-20) – full of enthusiasm following an “incredible” experience racing overseas in September.
After first tackling Donnington Park as part of the British GT Championship before being the solo Australian driver on the grid for the Barcelona 24 Hour, Buccini reports he has returned with more speed and confidence than ever before.
“The experience was mega!” Buccini enthused.
“Racing in the UK was great and coming home with a third place was just awesome given this was a new track and new car for me, and the mix of wet start and dry finishes for each race was certainly an interesting challenge as well!
“The Barcelona track was amazing and I loved the technical side and all the undulation, and how fast you can take the corners was sensational. The organisers did an amazing job too and team just didn’t stop. To run in such a huge event and experience the difference of a European event was exciting.
“Since getting back home we headed out for testing at Queensland Raceway in the wet and the benefits of this experience were immediately clear – I was straight away two seconds faster than I had been there before.
“While the Ginettas I drove in the UK and Barcelona had aero, the confidence these events have given me is just mega and I definitely think the APC racing is going to be improved as a result.”
Buccini heads to Sydney Motorsport Park for the PVS Sydney Stoush as the leader for the class in which he won the Enduro Cup last year and claimed third for the year.
“This year started well and then we had some bumps on the way with the car, including a DNF at the last round at Phillip Island which was not ideal – I had the car in a good spot there, however the last race did not go to plan with an incident for our co-driver,” explained the #71 Buccini Transport BMW M140i racer.
“To be leading the A1 title chase at this point means a lot to me – I have made sure to be at each round and have been working on my skills.
“I really enjoy Australian Production Cars as the cars are road cars and you have to work hard to get the results, so to be leading at present is very exciting and I hope I can win the season and add the A1 title to my list of achievements come the season finale at the Bathurst International in November.”
While November 8-10 will mark the final round for the Meguiar’s APC 2024 season, that won’t be the end of Buccini’s 2024 racing plans alongside his daughter Karlie Buccini, who is currently leading the B1 Meguiar’s APC title standings.
“Karlie and I will be heading to the Philippines for the late November enduro there, which we are really looking forward to,” he said.
“We have lots of other exciting plans coming up too, as well as more APC racing in 2025, we will soon announce details of our Bathurst 12 Hour plans, and we are planning on heading back overseas for more racing in Europe and also the US,” he concluded, while thanking “Lance at Brisbane Motorworks for his nonstop work on and off the track preparing the car; my team Lance, Errol, Josh, and Jacob who also work hard at the track and off; Daniel from Simply Tuning and Broc from Leeson Engineering for all their help getting last minute tunes and fabrication done; and of course all my sponsors: Tyres&More, Earlypay, Fleet Imaging, Bruce Chiene Insurers, Revolution Accounting, Ultimate Power Steering, Heavy Vehicle Workshop, Driveway Specialist, Bowdens Own, Log fumigation and Yokohama.”
The PVS Sydney Stoush, round five of the 2024 Meguiar’s Australian Production Cars, will hit Sydney Motorsport Park across October 18-20.
To learn more about Meguiar’s APC, visit www.ausprodcars.com.au or email troy@ausprodcars.com.au
Photo at top thanks to Speed Shots Photography. Other images supplied by Paul Buccini.