The first installment of photos from Round Two of the Independent Race Series has been posted, with photos from a selection of categories.

Check out the new gallery by clicking here.



More photos will be added over the coming days.

IRACE PRC LOTUS EXIGE from Anthony Soole on Vimeo.

Independent Race Series fields have doubled in size since the series made a humble start to 2009, back in March at the wonderful Morgan Park circuit.

Round Two is nearly upon us, and for this round the series heads to Sydney's Oran Park. Bumper fields in Production Racing Cars and RocketSports are expected, plus the fantastic SuperTrucks, and a strong lineup including Touring Car Challenge, Muscle Division, Formula Tasman and LeMans Sports.

The flowing Oran Park South Circuit will play host to some fantastic action, with Practice and Qualifying on Friday (15 May), a couple of races on Friday afternoon, and the bulk of racing on Saturday 16 May.

As always, the Independent Race Series features a relaxed, friendly atmosphere, where fans can get an up close look at the cars, meet the drivers, and generally get amongst it. For drivers, it is an affordable, mate-against-mate platform to enjoy motorsport.

To view the schedule for Round Two, please click here.

If you would like to compete at the event, it's not too late! Check out the online entry form here, and get in touch with our Competitor Liaison via email, or on 0412 785 486, to secure your entry.

If you can't make it to Oran Park for the event, you can keep an eye on the official website: www.irace.net.au for updates during the event.

So, do you want to go motor racing?

We can help get you in a car for the upcoming round at Sydney's Oran Park!

There are affordable drives available in a variety of lease cars. Check out Mal Rose's brilliant Mitsubishi Mirages, or the awesome Reynard 91D Formula Tasman, the brilliant Minetti and Lincspeed Le Mans Sports cars, and there are many more great cars available for lease in just about every category - contact our Competitor Liaison, Rod Dale, for all the details - click here, or call 0412 785 486.

If you don't have a racing licence yet, no problem. Our friends at the Marulan Driver Training Centre can help you out with driver training, and a licence evaluation for the fantastic value iRace licence. Head over to www.mdtc.com.au for all the details on the Marulan Driver Training Centre.

For more information on the licencing requirements for iRace, check out the Getting Involved page for Drivers.

So, the round is just under a month away, but with the Independent Race Series, anything is possible, and we really can get you into a car at Oran Park.

Round Two, Oran Park, 15-16 May 2009. Be there.

The first TV installment for the 2009 Independent Race Series was screened on SBS yesterday, and it generated a LOT of interest. Over 700 new visitors came to the site in the space of a couple of hours following the screening. These new visitors viewed over 15,000 pages, for a grand total of 110,000 "hits". This is the most intensive viewing period the site has ever seen!

So, to our new visitors we say: Welcome! We hope you keep coming back, and we hope that some of you join us on the grid of a future iRace event.

With the influx of new visitors, we realised it was time the "Get Involved" pages had a bit of a spruce up, and that has been completed today. The "Get Involved" section of the site now features information on what is required to become a part of the series, either as a competitor, a volunteer official, a volunteer mechanic, or any other capacity. Head over to the Get Involved section if this is the kind of information that interests you.

If you missed the show, you could try clicking here, and here, or tune into Fox Sports Wednesday 29 April.

A big thank you to the Marulan Driver Training Centre (www.mdtc.com.au) for helping to make the TV possible.

The next round of the Independent Race Series will take place at Oran Park, 15-16 May 2009. If you are a competitor, remember to get your entry in asap, either via the online system, or download the form and send it in.

Darin Mandy of Digital Realism has posted some great photos from Morgan Park over on his website.

Click here to visit the gallery. There are links to purchase images at the top of the gallery page.

Darren offers prints in various sizes, as well as the popular images on CD option.

UPDATE: Darren has now finished uploading the photos for this gallery - check out the links above, and if you find some photos you like, support Darren by making a purchase!

The opening round of the 2009 Independent Race Series has been run and won at Queensland's Morgan Park circuit.

The meeting took place under clear skies and warm weather, and was for many competitors (and the iRace Series) their first visit to the technical circuit.

Friday saw unofficial practice, and the first chance for the competitors to get to know the layout. There were no major occurrences during the day, other than an oil line coming lose on Robert Townsend's Minetti, leading to a fire, and Robert's unfortunate retirement from the meeting.

Saturday morning saw official practice, again held in fine conditions. Darren Saillard was the early pacesetter in the Touring Car Challenge field, lapping in 1m04s. Quickest in the RocketSports field was Robert Free (1m10s). Sam Dale was the sole Formula Tasman entrant, lapping in 1m04s. The Production Racing Cars boasted the most competitive field, led by Anthony Soole in his Class X Lotus Exige (1m12s), but the middle part of the field spread by just a couple of seconds.

In qualifying, the leaders remained unchanged - Saillard took pole for the Touring Car Challenge, Soole for Production Racing Cars, Dale for Formula Tasman/Le Mans Sports and Robert Free in the RocketSports. In each case the midfield groups were tightly grouped, promising some great racing come Sunday.

Sunday morning was again fine, and the first event was the RocketSports, featuring Future Cars. Robert Free led from pole, with John Biddlecombe settling into second place. It was the Holden Roadsters of Graham Smith and Clive O'Connor in third and fourth respectively.

For the second RocketSports race, Robert Free led from start to finish again, but John Biddlecombe succumbed to a fuel problem, and was forced to retire from the rest of the meeting. Smith again got the better of O'Connor in the Holden Roadsters.

In the third RocketSports event, Graham Smith delivered a wakeup call to Robert Free, taking the lead at the start. The two tussled for a couple of laps before Free used the nimble handling of the Future Racer to open up a gap. Smith came home in second, with O'Connor third.

In the RocketSports finale, Robert Free led all the way, but O'Connor managed to get the better of Smith in the early stages, running in second place. Smith got the upperhand at half-distance, and held second to the finish.

Robert Free took the overall win for the round, and Smith took the Holden Roadster honours.

In the Formula Tasman and Le Mans Sports category, Sam Dale was the sole survivor come Sunday, with the other cars not making it to the first race. Dale used the event as a test session, and was clearly not content to slow down, improving his laptime with each session.

The Production Racing Cars proved to be highly competitive, with some very close racing. Anthony Soole dominated, in his Class X Lotus Exige. Behind Soole was a mix of Class A, B and C cars.

In the first of the Production Racing Cars races, it was Clark Stott second overall, and first of the Class A cars. Behind him it was Richard Mork, in his Class A Honda Integra. John Willmington was punching above his weight, first of the Class C cars, and fourth overall! Best of Class B was Malcolm Rea.

Production Racing Cars Race Two saw a reverse grid start shakeup the order a little, Soole needing to push his way through from the rear. He managed it fairly comfortably, taking the lead on the seventh lap (of 10). Nick Chambers took second place, top of the Class A cars. Hans Riehs led much of the race, but a slip saw him drop back to third at the finish. John Willmington again topped the Class C cars, finishing 6th outright, and ahead of ALL the Class B cars. Debutante Carly Black was the first Class B car home, in 8th outright.

The third Production Racing Cars race reverted to a normal grid, and Anthony Soole took another win. Again it was Nick Chambers putting in a strong performance in Class A, taking the class win and second outright. John Willmington was top Class C, 6th outright, and Neil Byers won Class B in his first finish for the weekend.

For the final Production Racing Cars race, Anthony Soole elected to start rear-of-grid, and drove an epic race to come through for the win. Clark Stott took second outright, and top spot in Class A. John Willmington did it again in Class C (6th outright), and Neil Byers took Class B.

In the final standings for Production Racing Cars, Anthony Soole took the Class X victory, young-gun Nick Chambers won Class A, James Flanagan was victorious in Class B and John Willmington was dominant in Class C.

Darren Saillard dominated qualifying for the Touring Car Challenge, but he gave his pole position away for the opening scratch race - electing to start from the rear-of-grid. He made up places quickly though, making his way halfway through the field by the first corner. He picked off the rest by the second lap, and led for the remainder. Behind Saillard the action was hot, with a number of battles evolving. Dave Gardner retired with throttle problems, and Gary Leaton with driveline issues. Richard Mork and Phil Groeneveld had an epic, racelong battle, Mork ultimately getting the upper hand and taking second overall. Joe McGinnes (XY Falcon Muscle Division car) and local-boy Matthew Clift (Mazda RX2) also had a nail-biting battle - the two swapping places a number of times, with McGinnes leading at the flag. Merrick Malouf (BA Falcon V8 Ute) and Paul Bruce (Mazda RX2) also enjoyed a racelong battle, with Bruce coming out on top.

Race Two of Touring Car Challenge was a handicap affair, and Darren Saillard tried his heart out to take the win. He didn't quite make it though. Local driver Matthew Clift pedaled his Mazda RX2 to a handy lead and held it to the finish. Saillard make quick progress through the field, but found a wide Commodore at the hands of Richard Mork, and had his progressed delayed just enough to hand Clift the win. Merrick Malouf drove a strong race to third place.

In the third race - another handicap, Saillard again did his level best to make up the deficit, but this time he was beaten by Dave Gardner. Gardner had suffered a terrible run of luck - alternating between a throttle stuck wide open, and no throttle at all! It all turned around for him in this race though, he took a popular win. Merrick Malouf again took a strong third place.

In the final, Darren Saillard turned the tables, and took a dominant victory. Gardner took second place, with local driver Matthew Clift in third.

Overall results saw Saillard take the outright victory, ahead of Merrick Malouf and Dave Gardner. Saillard took the V8 Supercar honours, Phil Groeneveld the V8 Giants honours and Merrick Malouf took out Muscle Division.

A solid weekend of racing at Morgan Park revealed what a great driver's circuit it is. The challenging layout proved popular amongst competitors, and is expected to draw larger fields at the next event held at the track in June.

The next round of the Independent Race Series will be held at Sydney's Oran Park, 15-16 May, when they host the SuperTrucks for their farewell from Oran Park. All the details are available on the official website: www.irace.net.au

Round Two entries are now open.

We're expecting this to be our biggest round yet, and the first competitor to get their entry in will receive half price entry at the following round. Dave Gardner won this prize by getting his Round One entry in first, and will be eligible for entry to Round Two at half price. Get your entry in now to be eligible for the discount for Round Three.

And just to allay some fears about making payments over the internet - we DO NOT take your credit card details via the internet. If you wish to complete your entry via the online system, we ask you to either fax, post or phone your credit card details through. With your agreement, we can keep your credit card details on file for the year, and process your payment for each round as you submit your online entry. The other electronic payment option is PayPal - this is the safest system on the internet. PayPal invest massive funds to ensure their system is secure.

To access the online entry form, please click here.

To access the printable pdf version of the form, please click here.

The first round of the 2009 Independent Race Series from Morgan Park will go to air in April 2009.

The program will be broadcast via two channels:

SBS Speedweek - Sunday 12 April at 1pm

Fox Sports - Wednesday 29 April

As always, check your local guides for details.

The TV coverage for this round is supported by Marulan Driver Training Centre - visit the official website: www.mdtc.com.au

Anthony Soole - Lotus Exige - Production Racing Cars


Dave Gardner - VS Commodore - Touring Car Challenge