In true blue Australian fashion, the drivers would return down under to lap the infamously challenging Winton Motor Raceway to cap out four incredible rounds of racing action.

With many names anxiously dancing above and below the cutoff line, nerves were high for drivers and spotters alike as the session opened and cars took to the asphalt. Would it be your final time amongst the best? Or would you make it to the most competitive series in the Oceanic Region?

Let’s dive into the final race review of the Qualifying Series!

Big gaps spell out interesting qualifying session

While it’s not the shortest lap of the season when looking at the stopwatch, Winton easily takes the cake for the slowest lap of the season when you look at average speed. That makes for a large skill gap in traction management in the seemingly endless kinks of this distinctly Australian speedway.

At the halfway mark, there was just over half a second separating the top 10, with Synergy Sim Racing's Dylan Perera topping the table on a 1:22.322. While just 0.029s separated Perera from Evolution Racing Team’s Jobe Stewart at the time, there would be a two-tenth gap down to third.

Andrew Dyson caused a calamity at the pit entry with 10 minutes to go, running deep onto the grass at the penultimate corner. When Dyson rejoined, he would spin across the nose of Dylan O’Shea’s 9INE5IVE Mustang, trapping himself between the tyre barrier and the pit entry lane.

When Dyson attempted to spin his Camaro back in the right direction, he would bring Lachlan Caple to a stop. Caple’s teammate, Hayden Veld, would not notice the checkup in time and slammed into Caple’s rear bumper at speed. The incident would leave both of the ERT Mustang’s with significant damage.

As drivers got in their groove, times would tighten by the time qualifying drew to a close - with the top 10 separated by just 0.291s.

Perera would hold pole position from his time set earlier in the session, while Eclipse’s Damon Woods pipped Jobe Stewart by just 0.001 for that second front row spot. Brenton Hobson would line up in fourth, followed by Kurt Stenberg, Glen Postlethwaite, Matthew Bowler, Denis Gataric, Tao Soerono and Corey Preston.

Woods robs Perera off the line in lap 1 scramble of the ages!

Once the cars settled into a window of tyre temperature, there would not be many overtaking opportunities around the tight and technical lap of Winton. So, when the green flag dropped, what would be seen was more symbolic of the start of a hunger games film than a race start.

The first to take aim was Damon Woods, who stormed off the line to claim the race lead from Dylan Perera before the pair got to Turn 1.

Jobe Stewart arrived at the scene next, pushing Perera into third as the qualifying series tussled through the tight first chicane. There would be one more position loss in Perera’s nightmare start, with his teammate Brenton Hobson pinching third place on the downhill run into Turn 3.

Jacob O’Reilly found himself in the gravel on the exit of Turn 4, plunging from his starting position of 18th down to 36th.

What’s worse than going off into the gravel? Not getting off the line.

Daniel Benefield would stall his 9INE5IVE Mustang when the lights went green, with everyone behind reacting quickly enough to avoid a monumental accident. Benefield would also have engine trouble later on, pulling off into an escape road to avoid bringing out a safety car.

Podium runner spins in heartbreaking unforced error

Brenton Hobson would be chasing the leading pair of Woods and Stewart at the start of lap 3, but it would be tragically short lived.

On the exit of the first chicane, Hobson’s Camaro would bounce strangely and bottom out on the exit curb of Turn 2. His car would carry enough speed to find itself in the wall on the right side of the track, leaving him with damage on the front end as well as dropping all the way to the back of the order.

Thankfully for Hobson, his consistent results in the previous three rounds would mean his place in the main game was not under threat.

Bottleneck sparks heated scrap in the midfield

While the running order had mostly settled as the race moved into the 13th lap, the timing board quickly revealed a ticking time bomb on the fringe of the top 10.

DPR’s Ryan Jones was four seconds behind the car in front. In the meantime, he had five cars stacked behind him within a second.

Vermillion eSports’ Tao Soerono was quick to give Jones a hurry-on, bumping the DPR driver wide on the exit of Turn 9. Two laps later, Soerono would pass Jones down the inside of Turn 7.

That same move opened the door for Eclipse’s Kobi Williams, who found his way into the top 10 after the scrap concluded.

Pit lane comes to life in first round of stops

The first round of stops began as the race progressed past lap 20. Damon Woods would box from the lead on lap 23, while Jobe Stewart interestingly stayed out an extra lap despite anticipation of an undercut.

While short-fuelling saw Dylan Perera take the race lead - followed by Kurt Stenberg in second - Jobe Stewart would drop all the way down to 6th after the first stops.

The top 10 order on lap 27 after the first batch of stops concluded was: Perera, Stenberg, Woods, Postlethwaite, Stewart, Gataric, Veld, Bowler, Williams and Borg.

Main game glory clouds driver vision at halfway mark

With the first pit stops completed, drivers and their spotters began to crunch numbers on where they would need to finish to continue their V8 Pro campaigns into 2025.

Jacob O’Reilly would throw a spanner in the works on lap 30, throwing his Vermillion Mustang down the inside of Andrew Dyson into Turn 3.

Shawn McNamara would pile on the pressure to Dyson for the remainder of the lap, but would get the spot for free when Dyson peeled his DPR Camaro into the lane having crossed the critical lap marker.

Fears rise for Synergy and Baldwin in late accident

With 29 to go, Brady Baldwin was spun around by Vermillion’s Tyce Hodge at Turn 9. This piled on significant pressure to the Synergy driver, who was 19th in the championship standings coming into the final round.

Baldwin would keep his cool to finish 24th on the road, securing himself enough points to maintain his place in the standings and secure a main game drive in 2025.

The beneficiary of the debacle was Orbit Drop Bear’s Tyson Broad, who slipped by with half his car on the grass to move up four positions.

Final stops line up the run home to pro

With 25 laps remaining, the lead pack began to peel into the lane for the final stops of the night. It would be a mixed bag of varying stop lengths that shook up the initial order.

Dylan Perera would pit from the race lead, and while he would hold onto 3rd place all the way to the chequered flag, he would still not secure enough points to make it over the cutoff line in the standings. With that, Perera’s Pro series aspirations would grind to a tragic halt.

Jobe Stewart and Denis Gataric had a similar fate, running home inside the top 10 in Winton but failing to make the cutoff line with attendance issues plaguing their respective seasons.

Tyson Broad would spin Andrew Dyson at Turn 9 with 20 to go, leaving Broad with a penalty that would drop him down the order significantly. The points loss from the penalty meant Broad would finish in a tied 20th place in the standings, but would lose out on the cutoff line on countback to Vermillion’s Ben Faulkner.

Woods takes the chequered flag to claim third consecutive Eclipse win

Damon Woods took home the chocolates in Winton, crossing the line two seconds ahead of Jobe Stewart to claim his Pro Series entry.

Woods follows in the footsteps of his teammates, Kody Deith and Dylan Birse, in his guaranteed entry to the main game - despite having his seat pretty well secured in the regular points standings anyway.

The remainder of the top 10 would hold steadfast from the order after the second stops.

As always … honourable mentions!

Shawn McNamara and Andre Yousiff were the biggest movers of the afternoon, both moving up 17 positions respectively. The pair would also secure themselves main game seats.

Reyn Campbell moved up an impressive 16 positions from 35th to 19th, but did not make the cutoff line.

Kobi Williams made his way from 20th to 9th, which bagged him enough points to finish 9th in the overall standings.

Brenton Hobson was the biggest loser in this round, dropping from 4th to 30th. As previously mentioned, his season-long results were enough for him to finish 7th in the points race anyway.