Photo: AGI Sport
Noah Killion became AU4 champion in the final round at Sydney Motorsport Park on September 27/28, and won all three of the weekend’s races.
Pre-event testing took place at night, free practice was on Friday then qualifying filled Saturday morning.
In Q1, Killion was beaten to top spot by Harrison Duske, who took pole by 0.1518 seconds.
Cohen Kokotovich was 0.2697s off Duske in third, while Isaac McNeill was 0.6211s back in fourth.
Brock Burton beat Imogen Radburn to fifth by 0.0094s, and both were within 0.73s of pole.
Killion improved by 0.4982s in Q2 to 1m28.8878s, and topped the times by 0.3237s over Duske. Kokotovich and Burton were both over 0.7s behind, and McNeill trailed by 0.8552s in fifth.
Duske had to get defensive straight away at the start of race one, but it was fruitless as Killion went straight past on the inside into a lead he would not give up. He built a 1.7s gap before the race was neutralised following a huge crash in which Chloe Lane went off, then rejoined the track at high speed and ploughed into Koby Wilson.
The restart was not until lap 10 of 12, and Kokotovich took second around the outside of turn one. Duske got back past at turn two on lap 11, then Kokotovich got a five-second penalty that demoted him to fifth. McNeill and Radburn profited, and Burton would have too if not for their own five-second penalty that put them sixth.
Andrew Fitzpatrick won the class for first-generation F4 cars in seventh place.
Killion started on pole for race two the next day, and led lights-to-flag. Kokotovich dropped behind Burton and McNeill to fifth on lap one, but approaching turn two on lap two pulled off a double move on the outside after McNeill defended heavily on the preceding straight.
McNeill later overtook Burton, then passed Kokotovich exiting turn two on lap three.
De’argo Stewart crashed out by spinning on a kerb exiting turn five on lap five, then Radburn crashed exiting turn seven on lap six, prompting a safety car period that left just one lap of racing after. JesseJames Samuels had a huge crash as the last lap began, while Killion held on up front for victory. Fitzpatrick again took Gen1 honours in seventh.
The season ended with Killion’s ninth victory. He had severe wheelspin off the line from pole and Duske the lead into turn one, with McNeill rising to third. The trio squabbled, with Kokotovich right behind, until the safety car appeared on lap four due to Stewart stopping.
Duske created a gap for the lap six restart, and McNeill attacked Killion into turn two. But by the end of the lap, the top two were close again and there was a fight further back for third. Killion tried a switchback move at turn two on lap seven and a squirm led to he and Duske colliding.
McNeill and Kokotovich passed Killion, while Duske spun down to last. He recovered to seventh, while Kokotovich ended up outside of the top 10 after breaking his front wing on McNeill and needing to pit.
Killion reclaimed the lead by passing McNeill through turn four on lap 11 of 14, then sprinted away. McNeill resisted intense attacks from Burton and Radburn, but a five-second penalty dropped him to fifth as Fitzpatrick picked up another win in sixth.
Results round-up
Race 1 (12 laps)
1 Noah Killion AGI Sport 26m55.7312s
2 Harrison Duske Tim Macrow Racing +1.1315s
3 Isaac McNeill Volante Rosso +5.4024s
4 Imogen Radburn AGI Sport +6.0894s
5 Cohen Kokotovich AGI Sport +7.5051s
6 Brock Burton +10.6962s
7 Andrew Fitzpatrick Fitzpatrick Racing +13.3470s
8 De’argo Stewart AGI Sport +15.8854s
9 JesseJames Samuels AGI Sport +21.1537s
10 Christian Ayrouth AGI Sport +23.8933s
Pole: Duske, 1m29.2342s
Fastest lap: Killion, 1m29.8930s
Race 2 (12 laps)
1 Killion 27m07.9048s
2 Duske +0.3465s
3 McNeill +0.9289s
4 Kokotovich +1.4032s
5 Burton +2.2723s
6 Chloe Lane Tim Macrow Racing +4.9481s
7 Fitzpatrick +6.5785s
8 Koby Wilson AGI Sport +6.7087s
9 Jamie Lee-Su AGI Sport +8.4046s
10 Ayrouth +11.1315s
FL: Killion, 1m30.7053s
Race 3 (14 laps)
1 Killion 26m46.1094s
2 Burton +7.4524s
3 Radburn +7.7725s
4 Lane +8.9559s
5 McNeill +11.7780s
6 Fitzpatrick +28.8333s
7 Duske +32.2132s
8 Xavier Babbage Hocke AGI Sport +37.5085s
9 Wilson +41.3312s
10 Lee-Su +41.4724s
P: Killion, 1m28.8878s
FL: Duske, 1m30.4446s
Championship standings
Gen2 1 Killion 311 2 McNeill 271 3 Duske 226 4 Radburn 153 5 Burton 149 6 Kokotovich 146 7 Georgia Morgan 60 8 Lane 29 9 Nathan Gotch 20
Gen1 1 Jensen Marold 313 2 Fitzpatrick 278 3 Wilson 213 4 Stewart 128 5 Samuels 126 6 Lane 122 7 Babbage Hocke 70 8 Lawrence Katsidis 64 9 Lee-Su 55 10 Ayrouth 32