World Time Attack Challenge 2012 – Competition Day 1

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We now get to the big boys in the Pro Class where there are nearly no limits on what you can build.  Here Jeff gives us a look at the Pulse Racing Evo IX.

The rules of the Pro Class are pretty much the same as the Open Class, but the biggest difference is that competing in the class is by invitation only.  Other than that it's all the same, down to the tire options.

It's no controversy these are the cars the fans flock to watch and the center of all media attention.  If you followed us last year you know of how the championship went down to the last minute when Cyber Evo pulled out everything in their bag of tricks to barely surpass the Sierra Sierra Evo by a mere 0.173 seconds.  It seemed that the excitement of the 2011 Championship carried right on over to this year's event.  

In the morning session of day 1 the Tilton Interiors Evo IX had already officially smashed the Cyber Evo record.  But not long after, the Nemo Racing team took their own swing at the fences and took the top spot with a blistering 1:25.7400!  Which is 3.111 seconds faster than Cyber Evo's 2011 time!!!

Here's a video courtesy of our new Aussie friends at Performance Garage of the Nemo Racing Evo coming into the pits after their record setting run:

Fully developed or not, the Scorch Racing S15's 1:28.5240 left them comfortably in third place and within striking distance for the championship.

Even with the lap records being set, the biggest topic of pit-chatter revolved on the absence of the Cyber Evo.  Word during practice day was that the team was on the dyno at Haltech all day Thursday.  We can only assume it was there on Friday too since they were MIA during competition.  We also heard they had concerns regarding the new aero package, since it had not been fully tested.  But right before all hope was lost for WTAC fans, who wanted to see the champions defend their title, the team finally made it to the track towards the end of the day.  All the Pro Sessions were done by then, so everyone would have to wait till day 2 to see what the crew at Cyber Engineering had up their sleeves.

The new look Cyber Evo arriving at Eastern Creek Raceway at the end of the day.  Needless to say, there were crowds of people flocking to their pits to catch a glimpse of the remodeled car.