Double podium Results for Ashley Seward Motorsport at Symmons Plains
March 17, 2024
Ashley Seward Motorsport has taken home a fresh batch of silverware in the latest rounds of TCR Australia and Trans Am.
In TCR, Dylan O'Keeffe steered his Autoglym-backed Lynk & Co to a race win and second place overall after one of the most dramatic racing weekends on record.
And in Trans Am, debutant Mark Bailey, driving the JAX Tyres & Auto Chevrolet Camaro, finished with third place in the Pro-Am class, meaning the trophy cabinets of ASM will be fuller when the team returns to Melbourne from the Apple Isle.
O’Keeffe displayed pace in practice, but missed the window in qualifying to start the opening race in 11th. He finished Race 1 in 10th, which meant he would start from pole for Race 2 in the reverse top 10 affair.
This is where O’Keeffe’s weekend turned around. He won Race 2, and despite dropping as low as ninth in the final race, he finished third, giving him second overall for the round and a handy chunk of points towards his 2024 title charge.
In ASM’s Trans Am entry, new national-level racer Mark Bailey claimed third place overall in Pro-Am.
Qualifying fourth in class, Bailey scored a podium in his debut race to finish third behind his more experienced rivals. In Race 2, Bailey delivered fifth in what was a delayed day of racing due to incidents across the pair of events.
Improvements were made in Sunday’s third and fourth races where he finished second and third respectively.
The next round of both TCR Australia and Trans Am will be held as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries at Phillip Island on April 12-14.
QUOTES
Mark Bailey
#12 JAX Tyres Chevrolet Camaro
Trans Am
"It was a tough weekend with plenty of tough competition. And yeah, it was a wild time," said Bailey.
"Symmons Plains is such a tight and technical track. Even though it doesn't really look like that on TV, there's never a dull moment. There's no flat bit of tarmac at all. So a lot of bumps and these cars move around. It's good fun.
"Working with the ASM crew is awesome. The team is just so good to work with. A professional outfit. Starting as a privateer, it's my first time working with a team like this and I just can't stress enough how important it is when you step up to these national categories to have an engineer and have a full team right behind you. It just takes the stress out of the whole weekend and you just focus on what you need to do."
Dylan O'Keeffe
#11 ASM Lynk & Co
TCR Australia
“A tough weekend in general but we finished on a high on Sunday," said O'Keeffe.
"The car rolled out well in Practice 1 and we had a good baseline compared to what we had at Sandown for Round 1.
“The car rolled out really strong so we knew from the start we had a decent package. Unfortunately for Practice 2 and qualifying, we detuned the car. We fell back a little bit and just misread the track conditions
“We had a strong showing, especially in the reverse grid race. We had a great package and came through to win that race.
“In Race 3, we had a decent start and there was good battling – hard aggressive racing which is what we like to see. Sometimes you can be on the right end of it, other times not and unfortunately I dropped right back to ninth but we knuckled down, we knew we had a good package and came back to the podium. "Massive thanks to Ashley Seward Motorsport, the crew and Autoglym for all their support. They all stuck by us. Thanks for sticking by us. We're really looking forward to Round 3 at Phillip Island."
