Beau Robinson has begun his 2022 BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship on a high, securing top spot in Friday’s Cobb & Co Hotel St George 399 Prologue.
With all 96 crews participating in the qualifying session, the Western Australian was in fine form, producing a time of 8 minutes and 13.585 seconds on the 13-kilometre Prologue course.
The conditions played a major role in the results, however Robinson was able to navigate his way through the extremely dusty course to pick up top spot ahead of last year’s winner, Josh Howells.
Rounding out the top three was 2019 AORC runner-up, Toby Whateley, who enjoyed a strong start to life in a trophy truck after switching over from a SXS in the off season.
The Trophy Trucks seemed to be the dominant class in Prologue, with Greg Gartner finishing the session in fourth place, ahead of 2012 AORC champion Matt Hanson and the highest ranked Prolite driver and last year’s podium placer, Michael Spokes.
With the results announced at the Cobb & Co Hotel following the sessions, Robinson was thrilled to claim top spot.
Probably the most impressive result for Prologue came in the KINCROME SXS Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship and SXS Pro Class with teenager Josh Weidman the quickest of the SXS cars and seventh overall.
Adding to the impressive of Weidman’s P7 in Prologue was the fact that the youngest driver in the field finished ahead of nine-time AORC Champion Shannon Rentsch, who made his first appearance since the 2019 Tatts Finke Desert Race.
Rounding out the top 10 was Ryan Taylor in ninth place and another Prolite buggy pilot in Mel Brandle the last to make the top 10 shootout
All 10 crews will be in action early on Saturday morning with the top 10 shootout to decide the starting order for section one, which begins at 10am local time.
Feature Photo: Terry Hill Photography
