Young driver Tom Sargent and his teammate became the youngest driver combination to finish a major endurance race at Mount Panorama.
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Tom strapped into the seat over the weekend, changing from his Formula Ford vehicle to a V8 to take part in the Hi-Tech Oils Bathurst Six Hour with teammate and fellow Formula Ford driver Lachlan Mineeff.
The CHE Racing Team had to put in a mammoth effort after an early setback, but Sargent and Mineeff made history by becoming the youngest driver combination to finish a major endurance race at the hallowed turf of Mount Panorama when they completed the race.
After starting fourth in Class D and thirtieth outright, Sargent was maintaining a steady pace in the race's early stages before the Toyota 86 ground to a halt with engine failure at the top of the Mountain.
However, through a determined effort from the team, a spare engine was installed, enabling Mineeff and Sargent to resume competition, and take the chequered flag in thirtieth position outright and fifth in Class D.
"When the car started smoking as I headed up the hill, my heart sank, and when I saw a pool of oil underneath the car, I thought our day was over," Sargent said.
"Once our car was retrieved to pit lane, the team put in an unbelievable job, and were able to get us back onto the track with a spare engine.
"While we would have liked to fight for a class podium, we accomplished our goal of finishing the race."
Sargent said he and Lachlan have both fallen in love with the Mount Panorama track and cannot wait to drive there again.
"To say it was an eventful day would be an understatement, it's certainly not what we had in mind before the weekend," Mineeff said.
"I'm really proud of the team though, to complete an engine change so quickly was outstanding.
"Typically, a problem like that would end the day completely, but the crew never gave up, and they've been rewarded with a special place in the Bathurst record books."
With the pair's Bathurst Six Hour exploits complete, Sargent and Mineeff now turn their attention to Round Two of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at Queensland Raceway in a fortnight where Sargent is sitting at the top of the leaderboard for the championship and in the 2019 Formula Ford Series "Road to Indy" pointscore. Mineef is currently seventh in the standings a whole 29 points behind his Bathurst Six Hour teammate.
Sargent will be hoping to keep his winning streak and podium finishes going as he sits only five points behind the next best on the championship board.
