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Cleary Storms to Inaugural Hoosier Young Gun Round Win
Elliott Cleary stormed to second overall, and first of the Hoosier Young Guns in the opening round of the Trico Trans Am Series.
The Hoosier Young Gun Award has been introduced for 2024 and is aimed at rewarding the younger drivers in the category, specifically drivers under the age of 25. At just 17 years of age, Cleary’s performance at Sandown continues his rapid development just 12 months on from his debut.
Driving for The Racing Academy, Cleary made his category debut during the second stop on the 2023 calendar at Phillip Island. The leap from karting to Trans Am didn’t appear to phase Cleary, who went on to take a maiden podium at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International in the final race of the season.
In qualifying for the opening round of the season, Cleary was sixth fastest and just 0.3758 seconds shy of the pole-time set by James Golding. In race one, it was seventh for the youngest driver on the grid, along with one of the fastest laps of the race.
Cleary moved forward in race two to finish in sixth, but it was the weekend’s final race where he hit his strides. After dodging the lap one chaos, Cleary sat in second place for the lap five restart. The Young Gun hung on to James Moffat all the way to the chequered flag and finished just half a second back from the defending champion.
The results gave Cleary second overall for the round, and the series standings, along with the first Young Gun Award of the season.
Round two takes place from March 15-17 at AWC Race Tasmania, as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries.
Tickets are available via the Race Tasmania website.
Quotes
Elliott Cleary
“As a team we rolled out really strong at the start of the weekend, and to continue our form from the end of last year was a big thing,” said Cleary.
“The first day was harder for me, adapting back to the Trans Am cars after racing single seaters in New Zealand previously. From qualifying onwards we were strong but didn’t really have the track position we needed. I think we had pace for the top three in the first two races.
“I was able to take the opportunity that presented itself in race three and got that podium result. It’s strong this year, there’s been a big increase in competition and some big names coming to the grid. It’s special to get results amongst that field,” concluded Cleary.