The Dial Before You Dig Australian Six Hour has now reached its final phase with one hour remaining and after five hours of a race that has seen the mortality rate claim very few cars as well as being run at an intense pace, Pollicina Motorsports are looking extremely good for a top ten finish.
Since starting in ninth place at 10:30am this morning, the Pollicina Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII has been sitting quite steadily in seventh place since the third hour of the race and has had a trouble free run, bouncing back from its disastrous first pit stop during the second hour of the race.
Anthony Loscialpo has been holding the fort in the Lancer since taking over from Gerry Murphy midway during the third hour of the race. Running in the low 1m50s bracket, the car has managed to maintain the same pace as their main rivals on track right now, which are the Subaru WRX STi of Jim Hunter, the GWS BMW of John Bowe and the Holden Astra of Garry Holt.
Loscialpo jumped out of the car midway through hour five and handed the car back to Murphy, who was chosen by Jim Pollicina to resume the driving duties of the Lancer instead of himself. Loscialpo was quite happy with his contribution to the race, after he jumped out of the car.
“I was pretty happy with the car,” Loscialpo said. “It’s quite hot in the car as there wasn’t enough cool air, but other than that, I am happy. The team wanted me to stick around the times I was doing, keep it going and thankfully, we made up a couple of spots.”
Murphy is currently maintaining the team’s on-track position of seventh overall and may stay in the car until the end of the race, but this has yet to be decided by Pollicina and team manager Dean Lillie.
The race will finish at 4:30pm.
For more information on the Dial Before You Dig Australian Six Hour, visit www.thenationals.com.au/australian6hour