Lauren Gray takes little Echo to big results

On paper, Lauren Gray’s Toyota Echo was the slowest car entered for the Phillip Island round of the 2008 Australian Manufacturers Championship (AMC) held at the weekend – but the results on track told a different story.

21-year-old Gray proved something of a giant killer as she took the diminutive Class E car to a pair of strong race results in the two, one-hour races contested – knocking off several more fancied cars in the process.

In what she described as one of ‘the toughest’ races of her career, the driver from Altona, in Western Melbourne, raced closely with the more powerful Hyundai Sonata that was her sole class rival and very nearly beat it in the process.

Gray finished 10th outright in race one after engaging in a ferocious battle with the Hyundai from the very start of the race until the very end – finishing less than 100m behind after a solid hour of racing despite enduring fuel surge for the last four laps.

In race two the story was very much the same, Gray scoring 11th outright and second in class.

Gray said afterwards that the longer-distance format employed in the Phillip Island round of the AMC suited her little Echo.

”The race format was fantastic; with us it was basically a case of getting out there for an hour and going non-stop as fast as we could.

”We didn’t need to do a pit stop and for most of the race we were battling with the Hyundai. I think we did surprisingly well given our car shouldn't, theoretically at least, be as quick as that.

”I haven’t worked so hard in a racing car for a very long time,” she added, of the battle with her class rival.

”I don’t think we were ever split by more than a few seconds for the entire race. If it had rained we would have had an even better performance but as it is, I’m really pleased with the results.”

With a return to a sprint race format for the next round of the championship, Gray and her team will now work hard to complete the build of a new Toyota Corolla production car to take a step up in class for the remainder of the championship.

”The Echo is certainly suited better to the long distance style of racing – which will be fantastic given the series is now looking at doing a lot more of that in the future,” Lauren said.

”But the results we scored on the weekend only motivate us further to get the new car and step up a class.”

The next round of the Australian Manufacturers Championship is currently scheduled for August 30 – 31, at Oran Park raceway in Sydney, NSW.

Published: 2008-06-16 00:00:00

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