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Rice Powers Dream Racing to Podium, as Webster Debuted his New Chassis
A podium result at the opening round of the Trico Trans Am Series was just reward for Dream Racing Australia after a big off-season moving workshops and rebuilding its cars for the upcoming year.
The Dream attack is spearheaded by two young guns as Jackson Rice returns to Trico Trans Am after finishing third in the TA2 Racing Muscle Car Series and Josh Webster continues after an impressive maiden campaign in 2023, but this time in a new weapon.
Webster will switch to a race winning Ford Mustang after completing a deal during the off-season to acquire fellow Tasmanian and former category frontrunner Owen Kelly’s example.
Dream Racing Australia has also just completed its move from Calder Park to a new state-of-the-art facility in Knoxfield as the team aims to expand its operations for 2024.
Practice on Friday was used as a shakedown for both drivers, but particularly for Webster in his Mustang.
Old tyres were used by both drivers in Friday practice as qualifying started Saturday’s action where Rice was 12th. Sitting inside the top 10 during Race 1 displayed improved pace for Rice, but an incident during the closing stages dropped him back to 14th and caused damage.
The Dream squad affected the repairs prior to Race 2 where Rice stormed his way to eighth.
Sunday was full of action, which Rice avoided on the opening lap and maintained third for the final race’s duration. Despite pressure from experienced rivals, Rice held his nerve to take the final podium spot and his maiden one in Trico National Trans Am.
Webster was 16th in qualifying as he continued to get acclimatised with the Mustang, but solid top 10 results in both opening races delivered on the promise of the new package.
Webster also avoided the opening lap melee in Sunday’s only race to finish ninth and secure the Pro-Am honours for the weekend.
The next time the Trico National Trans Am Series races will be at Symmons Plains Raceway on March 15-17 just outside of Launceston in Tasmania where Webster will be on home turf and is due to reveal an updated livery.
QUOTES
Jackson Rice
#7 Mudtamer/Dream Racing Australia Ford Mustang
“Finished our first round here at Sandown of the 2024 Trico Trans Am season and what can you say, an awesome result,” Rice said.
“The highs and lows of the weekend. The first race felt like we were going to have a DNF for a while, but in the second race we fought our way through. We got ourselves in a good position for the final and just had to work our way forward from there.
“I was really fortunate to keep out of the incident at Turn 4 on the first lap and after that I had to stay with the guys in front. We just did our thing and tried to save tyres towards the end of the race. “We saved the car at the end in the last lap dash so probably the hardest pressure lap that I’ve ever done.
“But I scored a first podium in Trans Am! I’m super stoked and it’s an awesome result for the team.
“These boys have put in a massive amount of effort to get the Mudtamer Mustang here for this weekend so thank you to everybody and we’ll see you in Tassie.”
Josh Webster
#200 Auto Fix/Dream Racing Australia Ford Mustang
“That’s the first round of 2024 over and done with,” said Webster.
“We started off pretty slow in practice and qualifying, but through the races we made some changes, plus the driver really got on top of the car. We ended up inside the top 10 outright in all three races and taking first in Pro-Am.
“So, first weekend in the new jigga, we can’t expect anything more and we’re pretty happy with how the weekend went.
“So now to Symmons Plains next month. Back home, local track and one I’ve done thousands of laps around. I’m keen to do some testing down there and I’m excited for it!”