MEGUIAR’S APC CHAMPIONS CELEBRATED AT BATHURST INTERNATIONAL

10 Nov MEGUIAR’S APC CHAMPIONS CELEBRATED AT BATHURST INTERNATIONAL

The 2024 Meguiar’s Australian Production Cars season has drawn to a close at Mount Panorama this afternoon, with no end of spectacular racing across four races at The Mountain to decide outright and class championships.

When all was said and done, Dean Campbell and Cameron Crick claimed the 2024 Meguiar’s Australian Production Cars outright and Class X championships in the #118 DA Campbell Transport BMW M2.

They took the big trophies outright and in class over fellow X class racers, Grant Sherrin in the #27 Sherrin Rentals BMW M4 (2nd outright and in class X) and Simon Hodges in the #21 Secure Wealth BMW M4 (3rd outright and in class X).

Campbell and Crick had headed into the final event of the year with a 70-point margin outright and 49 in class over Sherrin (once the drop your worst round rule was considered), meaning there was still a chance for Grant Sherrin to win the outright and class championships heading to the final round.

However, two outright race wins for the #118, and two outright second-placings for the #27 coming into Sunday’s race three was enough to seal the deal for Bathurst local Campbell and his co-driver Crick, who recently was named the best-performing rookie in his co-driving capacity at the Bathurst 1000.

Campbell and Crick would go on to take their third win of the weekend in race three, with Grant grabbing the first outright and class X win for the #27 this weekend in race four (see further in this report for a wrap-up of race four, and click here for details of how race one, race two, and race three unfolded).

Joining Campbell and Crick in celebrating their championship victories at the end of the Bathurst International were:

• Class A1 – Paul Buccini – #71 Team Buccini Racing BMW M140i (2nd – Chris Sutton #321 321 MotoFit Mitsubishi Lancer EvoX)
• Class A2 – Chris Lillis – #64 Cachet Homes Chevrolet Camaro SS (2nd – Nathan Callaghan – #64 Cachet Homes Chevrolet Camaro SS, 3rd – Hadrian Morrall and Tyler Mecklem – #9 Paramatta Vehicle Services Ford Mustang
• Class B1 – Karlie Buccini and Courtney Prince – #999 Buccini Transport BMW 135i
• Class B2 – Brent Peters – #32 Luxe Performance Commodore SSV
• Class C – Allan Jarvis and Rob Jarvis –  #70 TOA57D Motorsport VW Polo GTi

To hear what the title winners had to say about their victories, see the quoteboard below.

Round winners 

Claiming the round wins at the close of the four races at the Bathurst International  were Campbell/Crick (X), Sutton (A1), Lillis/Callaghan (A2), Karlie Buccini/Prince (B1), Chris Begg and Ashley Hooper (#15 BTuned BMW M3 – B2), Allan and Rob Jarvis (C) and Brock Paine (#33 TFH Hire Mazda RX8 – D).

Joining them on the class podiums were Paul Buccini and Trent Whyte (#18 Ultimate Diesel Tuning Toyota GR Yaris) in 2nd and 3rd respectively for A1; Matthew Holt (#65 Cavanagh Electrics HSV Clubsport) and Garry Beggs and Jimmy Manteufel (#41 Holden R8 Clubsport) in 2nd and 3rd respectively for A2; Grant Inwood and Darcy Inwood (#143 A1 Towing Bathurst Subaru STI) and Justin Ashwell (#11 Absolute Transport BMW 135i) in 2nd and 3rd for B1;  Brent Peters (#32 Luxe Performance Holden Commodore SSV) in 2nd for B2; and Tom Derwent (#42 Mazda RX) and Justin Lewis (#50 Yellow Express Mazda RX8) in 2nd and 3rd for class D.

Shane Fowler and Gavan Reynolds’ #131 Clancy Ford backed Ford Fiesta ST was also celebrated as the Shannons Speed Series’ Meguiar’s Best Presented Team.

Race four summary

Following the three earlier races across the weekend (see the news section of www.ausprodcars.com.au for summaries of races one, two and three), the Meguiar’s Australian Production Cars field lined up for the fourth and final time Sunday afternoon. It was a particularly intense outing for the A1 competitors of Paul Buccini and Chris Sutton with just two points between them in the title chase (in Buccini’s favour) heading into this final race of the season.

Grant Sherrin crossed the finish line first outright and in class X, setting up the fourth all X outright race podium of the weekend ahead of Campbell in second and Hodges in third.

The other race four class wins went to Callaghan and Lillis (outright 4th, A2 1st), Paul Buccini (outright 8th, A1 1st), Begg and Hooper (outright 10th, B2 1st), Harry Inwood and Darcy Inwood (outright 12th, B1 1st), Allan Jarvis and Rob Jarvis (outright 15th, C 1st), and Brock Paine (outright 16th, D 1st).

It was a wild start to the weekend’s final race with Chris Sutton and Nathan Callaghan connecting as the lights went out with Sutton up on two wheels as the two came together. Both entries were thankfully able to continue.

Further up the road Campbell got the better start off the line in the #118 DA Campbell Transport BMW M2, but wasn’t able to fend off a charging Grant Sherrin who didn’t take long to take control of the race where he would remain throughout the remainder of the session.

The A1 championship title was still up for grabs in race four, with Paul Buccini and Chris Sutton needing to finish in front of the other to claim the title.

With everything on the line, Paul Buccini and Sutton left nothing on the table, but it was the elder Buccini who would triumph after advancing an incredible 14 spots up the field to overtake Sutton with two laps to go and then fend him off to take out the title, while Sutton won the round.

Race four was punctuated by a lengthy Safety Car period to retrieve the D class #50 Yellow Express Mazda RX8 of Justin Lewis which found itself in the wall across the top of the Mountain, resulting in a last-minute dash to the finish line to finish the 2024 Meguiar’s APC in style.

Karlie Buccini also struck trouble early when the #999 went into limp mode coming out of Forrest’s Elbow but following a quick trip through pit lane for a reset, the B1 champion and round class winner was able to finish the race, crossing the line in 14th outright.

Plans for Meguiar’s Australian Production Cars in 2025 will be revealed soon. For further information about the category, please contact troy@ausprodcars.com.au or visit www.ausprodcars.com.au.

QUOTEBOARD: 2024 MEGUIAR’S AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION CARS SEASON FINALE AT THE BATHURST INTERNATIONAL

Meguiar’s Australian Production Cars Outright and Class X Champions, and Round 5 Outright and Class X wound winners, Dean Campbell and Cameron Crick – #118 DA Campbell Transport BMW M2

Dean Campbell

“It has been a very successful year and to come back from the last couple of years which have had some pretty tough luck and finally crack it here has been very pleasurable. It has been a good year; the guys have been good to race against – it would have been nice to finish the weekend with a last win in that last race but Grant was too good.

“We will come back next year and fight for it again! The whole team deserve this result, they are the ones putting in the hard work behind the scenes. Thank you also to our sponsors Inland Petroleum, Bathurst Auto Glass, Dawson’s Removals, Farra Civil, Jacs Driver Training, Central West Bricks, and also thank you to Matt Cook, Matt Worsley, and Cameron Crick.”

Cameron Crick

“It is good (to win the title and the event). Obviously a big part of this is Dean, he invests a lot into it and has been a big sponsor of mine for many years now, so to be able to help him seal the championship has been awesome.

“It has been a really good year, the car straight out of the box that Cam and Colin Hill built was awesome and the two Matts working for us have done an incredible job across the year and we have made a lot of gains with the car.

“And to see Dean’s improvement also from a driving point of view has been the biggest positive for me – he is a good mate of mine now and he had quite a big accident here this time last year in the Evo and it has taken a while to build his confidence back up, but I know he is a good driver and has it in him, but this track can be very daunting so I am stoked for him. He has definitely lifted a level this year and deserves all this success for sure.

“Thank you to our sponsors, and also for me personally I would like to thank Dean for handing me the keys to his race cars for the last three years now while also being a sponsor of mine with my other racing – it is awesome to have him now as a close mate and it is awesome to race with him.”

Class A1 champion – Paul Buccini – #71 Team Buccini Racing BMW M140i

“That last race was awesome, absolutely sensational – I didn’t think I would get to the front, so that was very good.

“For me (to win the title), it is mega. I have had a few troublesome events where the cars have let me down and stuff, so to come home and win is just unreal for me and I am quite pleased. “The team did an amazing job all year and all weekend – the car was overheating all weekend and they just kept on detuning it and detuning it and trying to get it to stop overheating, and even though it overheated in the last run, it wasn’t too bad and just got me home, which was awesome.

“I want to say thank you to all of my team – to Lance from Brisbane Motor Works who does all the work on the car and has put work aside to do my car and make sure I could be at this event, I can’t thank him enough, and also Daniel and the team from Simply Tuning who do a really good job, and the whole team – they come with me to every event, stand by me, and work their backsides off in between races, especially in the lead up to this one, they were working day and night, so I have immense thanks for them.

“And thank you also to our sponsors: Brisbane Motor works, Tyres and More Hemmant, Bruce Chiene, Simply Tuning, Early PAY, Revolution Accounting, Log Fumigation, Ultimate Power Steering, Salt Global Logistics, and Heavy Vehicle Workshop.” 

Class A2 Champion, Chris Lillis. Also Round 5 Class winner with Nathan Callaghan – #64 Cachet Homes Chevrolet Camaro SS 

“I am really happy to finish our year off like that. We have developed the car a bit across the year and it was awesome all weekend, handling beautifully, and we are really looking forward to the six hour and next year now after that performance.

“Thank you to Bilstein and Statewide Oil, and I want to also saw well done to Dean and also Cameron on all they have accomplished this year – they have been champions all year and they deserve to win it.”

Class B1 Champions and Round 5 class B1 winners, Karlie Buccini and Courtney Prince – #999 Buccini Transport BMW 135i

Karlie Buccini

“I am pumped, stoked….it is an amazing feeling to win it (the title and the event). This is our first full year in the series, so to get the win at the end is very rewarding, especially after the season we have had. It is great. Thank you to Dad (Paul Buccini) and Claire, and also to Lance, Josh and Errol for all their hard work throughout the year. We will be back next year!”

Courtney Prince

“It is awesome (to get the title win) – this is my first full season in a production car and it has been so cool to do the whole season with the Buccinis, they are an awesome family team and they are well experienced in production car racing.

“I have loved helping Karlie all year and seeing her grow, from the start of the year to this weekend to see how much she has improved with her driving including doing a PB time in race three is great, and it has just been an awesome year.

“Thank you to Paul and Karlie and the whole Buccini family, as well as Lance, Josh and Errol for working on the cars and making sure they are all prepped and ready, and especially Paul also for giving me a drive and looking after me all year and helping Karlie and me, it has been awesome.” 

Class B2 Champion, Brent Peters – #32 Luxe Performance Commodore SSV 

“That last race was an absolute ripper! It is awesome (to win the title) and to claim it at Bathurst is even better – we came here for our first time here and to run around and have the car straight and clean, you couldn’t ask for anything better!

“The old Commodore has been doing awesome, and I want to say a special thank you to Luke, Chris and Damo for giving up their time and to all the WA guys for supporting us, it has been an awesome adventure. I think we will be back defending the title next year for sure.

“Also a special thanks to Damo, I couldn’t have done this without him and all his help sharing the drive this year and then being on the spanners this weekend, and also to my sponsors: DC Auto Centre, Penrite Oil, Tunecorp, Culture 24/7 and Motiv8 Training.”

Class B2 event winners – Chris Begg and Ashley Hooper – #15 BTuned BMW M3

Chris Begg

“It was a great weekend really. We had a bit of a drama in race one, involved in an incident with another car and we were penalised for my part of that episode, but we managed to still finish the race.

“As a result of that we were off basically nearly back of grid for race two – Ashley drove for race two and race three and brought the car back up to eighth, and I got in it for the last race and ended up back in 10th and still managed to hold off our main competitor.

“The car went great really, and everything was well organised with no real dramas so we are quite happy. Thank you to our main sponsor BTuned, and also our engineer Dave Cramp and our team mechanic, Hayden Knowles.”

Ashley Hooper

“It was a pretty good weekend actually. This was my second time at Bathurst and my first time in this car, but I know the car very well. I still had quite a bit of learning to do with learning the track again, as it had been seven or eight years since I was here initially.

“We set out to win the B2 class and identified our competition early and did all we could to stay in front of them the whole time. I want to say thank you to Chris Begg for giving me the drive, and also Dave Cramp and Hayden and the whole crew, as well as my mother for hanging around and feeding us and all that stuff!

“It was also great to race alongside our mate Justin Ashwell who came home third in A1 – we pitted together, travelled down together and live close in Queensland, and it was his first time at the Mountain. We were coaching him all weekend and he got quicker all weekend, so he is pretty happy with that and we are happy about it too.”

Class C Champions and Round 5 Class C winners, Allan Jarvis and Rob Jarvis –  #70 TOA57D Motorsport VW Polo GTi 

Allan Jarvis

“It is awesome to win the title and the event – we were the only C class car out there, but a win is a win and you have to be in it to win it.

“We had some awesome races with other competitors this weekend which was amazing, and it has been really good to race with Dad all year too – I am so glad he got back into the car after not being able to drive for a while, he did his first full season and I am really proud of him. Thank you to him and also to Terry my crew chief, I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Rob Jarvis

“This is just fantastic. It has been a great year, I came back driving with Allan this year and we shared the car and it worked out pretty good!

“It has been great. It is fantastic to share the car with him, it is the best thing to come away together and enjoy the motor racing together and look out for each other. I want to say thank you to Troy and all the gang for putting the series together, and also to our families for putting up with us!”

Class D Round 5 winner – Brock Paine – #33 TFH Hire Mazda RX8

“We had a great weekend and we really appreciate the APC inviting us in and all in the APC have been fantastic to race with. We couldn’t have enjoyed the weekend more. I want to say thank you to Brett, Thomas and TFH Racing for giving us the opportunity to go racing, it has been fantastic.”