The Darwin Undercard
The son of an F1 world champ and Johnson and Bowe teammates again - the support categories in Darwin are pulling some big names at the SKYCITY Triple Crown.
Darwin is famous for crazy news stories. Seldom can you believe the wacky things you read in the newspaper up there but amazingly all the stories are true.
It's fitting then that Darwin should be the location for Freddie Hunt, the son of 1976 F1 world champ James Hunt to make his Aussie Racing Cars debut in - of all things - a Hyundai Elantra. I know, I couldn't believe it either.
In other news the names Johnson and Bowe will be reunited once again as Steven Johnson returns to the ENZED Touring Car Masters and Volvo endurance driver Chris Pither is back in the V8 Utes.
ENZED Touring Cars Masters
Round four of the Championship sees Steven Johnson return to the helm of John Bowe's Ford Mustang. His performance on debut in Tasmania - where he took pole and a clean sweep of race wins - will have all but one man in the TCM pits very afraid. That one man is John Bowe himself who now has a new love interest, the Holden Torana he used to desecrate the field recently in Winton.
As we near the half way mark of the season, remarkably the top five drivers in the points are still all covered by less than points earned for one race win and Bowe isn't one of them.
East Coast Bullbars V8 Utes
Utes and Darwin go together like beer and pizza. They first raced there in 2005 and it has been a decade of close races and the odd sizable bingle.
It's round three for this series and the joker in the pack will be Volvo endurance driver Chris Pither.
The 2011 Utes champ is back for a wildcard appearance driving for Matt Stone Racing. It's the ute that won three events in the hands of Ryal Harris last year - what's more, Pither returned for a Hidden Valley cameo in 2013 and won the first race of the weekend, so expect a choice performance from the Kiwi.
Speaking of Harris, he's having a cracking year. He won the last event in Perth, leads the points from Adam Marjoram and George Miedecke and is a good chance to win his third Darwin event this weekend.
Also, watch out for defending champ Kris Walton this weekend - he was nowhere in Perth and won't be slow twice in a row.
Aussie Racing Cars
Now then, back to Freddie Hunt. If you've seen the film 'Rush' you'll know much about James Hunt, but you'd be excused for knowing little about his son.
He's 27 years old, as British as a good sock tan and just like his Dad looks like an honorary member of Pink Floyd. He's raced in multiple series but there's nothing that I can see on his resume that will have prepared him for our tiny Aussie Racing Cars, so he might struggle this weekend. I hope I'm wrong.
The pocket rockets never disappoint; we are two rounds into the Championship and we've already had seven different race winners.
Toowoomba's Adam Uebergang is firming as title favourite and he has won plenty of races at Hidden Valley before.
Local spotlight
The final category on The Darwin Undercard is a mixed bag. It's a combination of Improved Production, Commodore Cup and HQ Holdens all on track at once. You'd think Hidden Valley's kilometre long straight would favour the V8 powered cars but don't write off the rotaries.
Chad's Fast Four
- TCM: We're in for some Johnson and Bowe circa 1989 domination this weekend.
- TCM: Since dropping the reverse grid race format the pole sitter has claimed every race win at both events.
- Utes: The new race format in Perth meant we had seven drivers in contention for the round win during the final race. Expect something similar in Darwin.
- ARC: If Freddie Hunt lives up to his late Father's reputation Sunday night could be a big one.
You'll be able to catch all of the Touring Car Masters, V8 Utes and Aussie Racing Cars sessions as well as selected local support categories live on FOX SPORTS 506 beginning tomorrow. Click here for the full TV breakdown.
