The unique Toyota 2JZ powered orange BMW M3 of Zoran Gajic had a mixed weekend. This started well when he qualified second thanks to a 6.529 at a booming 228.27 mph but in the first round against Joe Signorelli a wayward leave went skewiff down track that saw an early 8.73 shut off pass. Round two saw the Bimmer receive a bye but again a crossed up run saw an even earlier 12.859 shut off pass. Still the team found their rhythm and on his last pass of the day Gajic got the Liberty gearbox zinging and recorded a solid 6.653 at 228.89 mph to become the second fastest import car in the world.

The Top RMP Celica was a welcome addition to the Factory Extreme bracket, however usual driver, Andrew Dyson was replaced by Milos Paviovic who wasn’t lost on the enormity of what he had in front of him. “It was my first time driving the Celica and I think I did well. We came in 3rd which I think is a great effort as it was my first time out on a very soft tune”, he explained. This soft tune saw a qualifying best of a 6.800 for fourth in a nine car field and while his losing his first round match with Scott Porter’s Infinity – 6.568 to 6.857 the next two rounds saw a vast improvement. Round two saw his solid 6.603/213.43 turn Archie Kejewski’s 6.805 from his Mazda 6 back while round three saw a bracket like 6.678/213.06 more than enough to turn back a quicker 6.653 from Zoran Gajic. God help the opposition once he finds his feet.

 A solid day of rain didn’t have too much effect on the Sydney Dragway race surface with a number of racers running personal bests before the morning qualifying sessions were finished. One of these highlights was the first full pull by the turboed 526 KB powered Ford Mustang of Paul Mouhayet that ran a 6.171 at 240.89 mph in Outlaw 10.5. Mouhayet had been very conservative in peddling the car after debuting it the month before so this number was a great reward with his crew were going right off. The 10.5 class is growing in popularity with some eleven cars being entered for an exhibition bracket at the Nitro Champs in May.