When looking through the history and statistics of the Pitcher Partners Sydney 300, one thing is clear… the fastest and slowest divisions in the field – A and E – have also traditionally been the smallest in grid size, but what they’ve lacked in quantity, they’ve made up for in quality.
It’s important to remember that, in grids as large as the ones we’ve seen across the previous four races at Sydney Motorsport Park, drivers in Division E start towards the very back of those fields, then spend most of the night in traffic, and, from before the pit-window even opens (at the start of Lap 10), they’re driving with one eye on their rear view mirror for the balance of the race, as the cars contesting the faster divisions come through to lap them.
Cars from EIGHT different manufacturers have been represented in Division E contests over the years. Of note, Hyundai’s presence on the Sydney 300 grid has been exclusively within Division E, namely two Excel entries in the 2019 race, and Ian Kegg’s Tiburon in 2022.
For Ford fans, the only Falcon to have started a Sydney 300 did so in Division E, and it was driven by Laurel Ball, Michael Rice, and Damian Sullivan in 2019.
The biggest Division E field came in 2022, with 8 entries, while the smallest grid lined up in 2021, when just ONE car, of the forty entries that started the 77-lap race, nominated to run in Division E.
That was Scott Freestone and Gene Phillips in a Mazda 3, but it sadly became the one-horse race they failed to complete… retiring after just one lap.
It meant that no trophies were awarded in Division E in 2021, and it remains the only time that’s happened, in any division, in the history of the Pitcher Partners Sydney 300.
Last year saw the closest fight for Division E honours in the history of the Sydney event, with the Nissan Pulsar, of Michael Ricketts and Josh Haynes Motorsport, leading home the BMW E36, of David Bailey (Triple D Racing) and Matt Thewlis, by only 47.6171 seconds. It marked the first time the top two cars in Division E had finished on the same lap.
Furthermore, it was a second division win for Ricketts and Haynes, who won Division D here in 2022, by the barest of margins.
As mentioned previously, Charlie Viola and Ben Hanrahan have also notched up that unique statistic, having won Division D in 2019, and C in 2021.
If that’s not enough, 2023 marked the first time in Sydney 300 history that the winner of Division E finished outside the outright top 20, with Ricketts and Haynes coming home in 22nd position, ahead of Bailey and Thewlis, who were 24th outright, but both combinations now share their own piece of #Sydney300 history as a result of that.
Having started 43rd and 45th respectively, both teams gained 21 positions throughout the course of the evening, which set a new record for the number of outright positions gained, by a Division E entry, in the history of this race.
It’s a common point of interest in any multi-class endurance race, just how much ground the ‘slower cars’ can make up throughout the main event, and where they then manage to finish in the outright fight.
As shown above, Division E cars punch well, and it comes down to their reliability, and the rate of attrition around them, which in itself is always a key talking point in these 300km races.
Speaking of attrition, there was NONE in 2019. All seven Division E cars that lined up for the inaugural Sydney 300 saw the chequered flag… Only the Division A classes of 2021 and 2023 have also managed to achieve a 100% finishing record.
Of course, the biggest winning margin in Division E belongs to Troy Derwent and Oskar Butt, who finished 12th outright in the weather affected, time-certain 2022 race.
The VW Polo was three laps clear of Phil Alexander (RaceAway Track Time), who drove solo on that night, after his regular co-driver, John Connelly, was a late withdrawal, due to illness. It was Alexander’s second division podium finish, after he and Connelly finished third in Division E, 22nd outright, in 2019.
Derwent and Butt’s drive in 2022 brought with it two more records. In a race heavily impacted by the deployment of the safety car, which saw the race neutralised on a record seven occasions, the #79 completed 73 laps (285.065km), finishing just 2 laps down on outright winners, Dylan Thomas (CXC Racing) and Cody Brewczynski
It remains the most racing laps completed by a Division E car in any Sydney 300, and subsequently doubles as the smallest margin between the outright winner, and the winner of Division E, in event history.
Derwent and Butt were unable to repeat their success in 2023, after a number of mechanical issues plagued their campaign, but even though it was a character-building day at the office for the #79, they still saw the chequered flag, coming home in 34th position.
The smallest margin between Division E entries, at the end of a Pitcher Partners Sydney 300, is 4.7668 seconds. That’s all that separated Phil Alexander and Jamie Martin/Mike Kelsey, in the fight for second in 2022.
The man we refer to as the 300 veteran, Parry Anastakis (Racing Peugeot Australia) , contested Division E here in 2022, with regular co-driver, Angus Lithgow, in his Peugeot 206 RC. It was a troubled run for the pair, and it ended on the outside of Turn 3, and triggered the seventh and final safety car of the night.
Another experienced campaigner in Anthony Soole has one outright podium, and three division podium finishes to his name. The first of those was a Division E win, co-driving alongside David Bailey, in 2019.
After finishing fourth in 2022, Martin Lyall and David Grice went one better in 2023, to secure third in Division E, further adding to the success that Mazda entries have enjoyed in these 300km races.
As far as manufacturer success is concerned, division E wins have gone the way of BMW (2019), Volkswagen (2022), and Nissan (2023). Mazda entries have four division podium finishes to their name, to BMW’s three, and one each for Volkswagen and Nissan – the aforementioned wins in 2022, and 2023 respectively.
Who will join the Division E honour roll in 2024? We’re just over ten weeks away from finding out.
