Jack Le Brocq clinging onto Finals berth
MSR veteran escaped big off in Sunday race, salvaged 15th
Buffer over James Golding now 20 points
In the midst of a Finals battle that looks set to be decided by the finest of points margins, Jack Le Brocq's heart would've been in his mouth as he hurtled towards one of the infamous Perth sand traps.
It wasn't one of Le Brocq's finest weekends of what has been an impressive season to date, qualifying 15th for both of Saturday's races, and 13th for Sunday, with finishes of 11th and 13th in the first two races.
Ironically, when Sunday's race came, he found himself in combat with James Golding, the driver with whom Le Brocq appears set to duke it out with for the 10th and final berth in the Finals.
However, their battle didn't boil over. Le Brocq merely made a rare mistake, and though he dragged himself through the sand, the amount of debris scooped up in the front air dam was huge cause for concern.
Dick Johnson Racing rookie Rylan Gray's day was ruined on the opening lap as he scooped up a heap of sand at Turn 6, but remarkably, Le Brocq soldiered on to 15th at the flag.
What was a true miracle was that the engine of the #4 Sherrin Rentals Camaro barely took a hit, with engine temperatures remaining at a safe level throughout.
"We actually got away with that one, I was a bit worried when we went bush there," said Le Brocq on the Equip Super Cool Down Lap podcast.
"Not ideal, kinda half ruined our day, but we got through it. It was actually alright, I was still running around in the 70's [degrees Celsius], so she was working a treat.
"I think I heard it on the broadcast and I'm sure you guys mentioned it as well, but we'll probably find sand in this thing for the next few months because it seems to get into everything.
"We've gone through the brake rotors, bearings, you name it. Anyway, sorry to the fellas, I might have to get in there and give them a hand to clean it out."
In even better news for MSR, Le Brocq was also able to marginally extend his advantage on the bubble over Golding, who looked on course to break back into the top 10 before a wheel gun failure at his final stop.
With three rounds remaining, Le Brocq is just 20 points ahead of Golding, whilst Thomas Randle, Andre Heimgartner, and Jayden Ojeda are also within 140 points as the Finals race tightens.
Crucially, Golding and the Blanchard Racing Team continue to regain qualifying momentum, an area in which Le Brocq is still looking for gains.
"To be honest, I wasn't super confident coming into this weekend," the two-time race winner continued.
"It's probably everyone, I suppose not some of these other boys at the other end of pit lane, but this is probably a bit of a bogey track for me, it's a place I've struggled at in the past.
"Anyway, we survived it, we got through it. Obviously would have loved to be further up, but it's nice to still be hanging on to that 10th spot there.
"We've definitely got some work to do, all these other guys that are stepping up, and we'll try and go with them and then just get that little bit more one lap speed out of it. That'll make our life a lot easier.
"Anyway, we'll go to QR, we've got a test day with Zachary [Bates] later in the week over in Adelaide, so that probably comes at a pretty good time."
The Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440 from August 21-23 is a home round for MSR, with Queensland Raceway the squad's home test circuit.
