Start your engines, ladies and gentlemen, because the MTAQ Racing Team is back to tear up the racetrack this weekend as the Queensland State Championship gets underway at Morgan Park Raceway.

Due to the impacts of COVID-19, driver David Wood and the rest of the MTAQ Racing Team have been waiting patiently for the 2020 season to get underway, with the first half of the Australian motorsport calendar heavily impacted by delays and cancellations.

But with racing getting back underway in Queensland recently, the wait is over, and the Hyundai Excel season is underway.

And what a season it is shaping up to be!

The team has been working overtime over the extended break to get the car in tip-top condition, making a number of noticeable improvements that has everyone involved excited.

This weekend will kick off an action packed month of racing that will see the MTAQ Racing Team travel around the state to compete against some of the best talent Queensland has to offer.

Round 1 of the Queensland State Championships will see 29 teams compete in the first three races of the season at the team’s home track at Morgan Park.

While the event will retain the traditional three race format from years gone by, Sunday’s feature race will be extended from 15 laps to 25, adding an extra layer of difficulty and strategy to the event which David says the team is prepared for.

At the conclusion of Round 1, the team will be faced with a short turnaround as they turn their attention to Townsville next weekend (5-6 September), where the Excel class will race as a support act for Round 8 of the Supercars Championship at the Reid Park Street Circuit.

The team will compete in three races across the weekend, providing a fantastic opportunity to prove themselves on a national stage in front of a vocal crowd.

This will also be the first time that the team has raced on live television, with all three races across the weekend to be aired live on Foxsports and Kayo, providing great exposure for the association as well as the opportunity for MTA Queensland members to follow the team live.

Racing will then return to the South-East in late September, where the Excels are expected to support the Supercars once again, this time at Queensland Raceway, Ipswich.

The invitation to race as a supporting category for the Supercars on national television is a glowing endorsement of the dramatic advancements and improvements that teams in the Excel category have made in recent years, improvements that have not gone unnoticed in the motorsport community.

The extended period of downtime during the pandemic has seen Triple Eight Race Engineering, one of the premier teams in the Supercars competition and good friends of MTA Queensland, turn their attention to building cars to compete in the Excel series.

With two vehicles already built, Triple Eight Race Engineering will make their Excel debut in Townsville, showing how highly regarded the competition has become.

Joining the Triple Eight Race Engineering Team will be fellow Supercars team Matt Stone Racing, who will also debut their first Excel in Townsville, while the well renowned Paul Morris Motorsport will also travel north with their own squad of Excels.

It truly is a remarkable time to be involved in Excel racing.

Round 2 of the Queensland State Championship is scheduled to take place in November, bringing to an end a short but adrenaline packed season that will be like no other the team has faced before.

It has certainly been a challenging year for the team to prepare for, going from not knowing whether the season would go ahead at all, to competing on national television, but the team has overcome every hurdle and are well placed to crack in this weekend.

And now, with the schedule set, the team ready and the competition looking as fierce as ever, the season is upon us and the wait is over.

Let’s go racing!

26 August 2020