Singleton race car driver Ryan Gilroy lined up in the front row of the starting line at Mount Panorama on Sunday – something that has always been at the top of his bucket list.
The 21-year-old races in the Toyota 86 Series with the Sieders Racing Team. The series is a platform for talented drivers, like Ryan, to demonstrate and develop their skills on some of Australia’s best racing circuits alongside the Supercars Championship series.
In torrential rain and some very wet track conditions, Ryan was in three races across the Bathurst 1000 weekend at Mount Panorama placing 2nd in Race 1 and Race 2 and then came 4th in Race 3 yesterday.
He’s feeling very shattered today after a huge weekend.
“Still coming down off the big high of the weekend!”
Drivers started their big weekend on the mountain with qualifying at the end of last week where they put their cars, and their skills to the test.
“We had a pretty good qualifying. We knew we were pretty quick and I gave it a good crack, and unfortunately got held up a little bit on my lap but was still good for P7 and by the first race I was leading the motor race by the first lap so to come away with second in the first one [Race 1] and the second one [Race 2] was pretty cool in some pretty diabolical conditions and that set the tone for the rest of the weekend.
“I had it pretty good, I only had the one car to follow or no cars to follow when I was in the lead but looking back at some of the cars in the back of the pack there their vision was absolutely none, they couldn’t see two metres in front of them let alone try and see a corner.
“But race two was absolutely atrocious. We were leading the field by about five seconds and we were wheel spinning up Mountain Straight in fourth gear and aquaplaning all the way down Conrod Straight so it was becoming very, very dangerous at that point,” said Ryan.
While the second place finish in two of the three races was amazing, Ryan said the coolest part of the weekend was where he got to start the final race on Sunday.
“The coolest part a part from the results was getting to line up on the front row at Bathurst on Sunday morning before the big race, that was just an absolute bucket list thing to do.”
Ryan had nothing but praise for his car and his fellow drivers too.
“The car was beautiful. It was probably the best car I’ve ever had at Bathurst. The team at Sieders Racing did an absolute mega job this weekend and we brought it home nice and straight and she was an absolute rocket in the wet.”
In the final race on Sunday Ryan’s team mate Harry Gray finished in 6th position and Reuben Goodall moved from 23rd place and crossed the line in 13th.
As for what’s next? Well this is the last race for Ryan this year in the 86 Series and they’re not sure if they’ll be back on track in 2022.
“I’d certainly like to,
“I feel like I get better the more I drive but everything is all up in the air at the moment.
“[Next year] I’d like to go out and win a National championship so whether that be another 86 or maybe have a run in the Super Utes or maybe something different, just have to wait and see,” said Ryan.
Ryan couldn’t be more thankful for all the support from back home too.
“I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who supported me across this weekend. The outpouring of support was just unbelievable.
“The amount of comments and messages I received over the weekend just blew me away”
Image: Sieders Racing Team/Ryan Gilroy Facebook