By Lachlan Onions
Young Penola racer Brad Gartner will return to a happy hunting ground for him this weekend when he heads to Winton Raceway for the first round of the 2023 TA2 Muscle Car Series.
In his first race of the year, Gartner visits a track where he took home victory last time out.
“I am really excited,” he said.
“Winton is where we finished off last year and got our first win so I’m pretty pumped to pick it up where we left off.”
This is set to be Gartner’s first full year behind the wheel of the TA2 Mustang, after he joined the series late last year.
“We decided to go racing towards the back end of the series (last year) because we only bought the car with three rounds to go,” he said.
“So we did it to get used to the car before this year.”
In his limited experience in the left-hand-drive V8 Mustang, Gartner has shown promising signs from the outset.
“We managed to get third in our first race out of 24 cars and we weren’t expecting that at all,” he said.
“Then we went and got provisional pole in our next race in Sydney and then managed to get our first win in Winton after only three races.”
He said it was amazing to achieve such a feat so early in his TA2 career.
This will also be his first race since December last year, where he competed in the S5000 series in the Adelaide 500.
“We have done some test days in the Mustang but this is our first race since December,” Gartner said.
“I have been absolutely itching to get back.
Gartner is hoping to have a “full-tilt” at the TA2 series this year and is hopeful he can start his campaign strongly.
“Considering this is the first time back in the car, I would love to just finish every race,” he said.
“Obviously a podium would be perfect and a win would be amazing but I would love to bank some good points because if you ruin Round 1, it makes the rest of the year hard.
“The first few rounds are going to be about banking the points and keeping it consistent.
“Then if we are in it at the pointy end of the series, we will then have a proper crack.”
The championship will have Gartner take on various famous tracks across Australia in the six-round competition.
Along with racing at Winton, he will also have the opportunity to take on Queensland Raceway, Hidden Valley, Sydney Motorsport Park, The Bend, Calder Park and Morgan Park Raceway.
He said it was a “dream come true” to race at these circuits.
“It is pretty cool,” Gartner said.
“You watch all your idols race there and to be able to get there and race yourself at tracks you never thought you’d race at when you started off is one of the coolest things.”
