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Peter Tillett is the new Alfa Romeo Twin Spark Cup Champion for 2021 here in Australia. Peter took out the Cup at Winton on the 12th December when he overcame a broken driveshaft in the first race to score enough points in the last two races on Sunday to snatch the Cup in the last race.
Peter came into the last round at Winton Raceway on 320 points chasing John Burkhart who was 345 points. A win in each race netted only 24 points so he had to at least complete 2 races to have a chance of taking the Cup home. Peter had qualified 3rd amongst the TSC cars and went on to lead the Twin Sparks from the start of Race 1. But disaster struck on lap 6 when his left driveshaft snapped, forcing him to retire and throwing the championship into doubt for him.
Andrew Wilson was the only other racer with a mathematical possibility of stealing the Cup. He arrived on the Saturday with 225 points, and with the maximum points available for winning all 5 races being 120 points, he could tie for championship with John Burkhart, but would then win it because of a count-back of wins during the year.
John Burkhart could do nothing but pray for snow as he had 2 DNFs and couldn't improve his overall points. Only the four best rounds counted to points and this was clearly John's worst round. First race he had a gear cable pop off mid-race which left him stranded in neutral. Then in Race 4, in a metaphorical palm to his own forehead, John forgot to check his bonnet pins before heading to the grid and found himself trying to look through shattered glass and an opaque bonnet heading towards Turn 3, and he took no further part in the weekend's racing.
Peter and his father George spent most of Saturday working on his 147 and making a plan. They'd come from NSW for the racing so there was no chance of ducking home for tools and parts. But all Peter's charm in the paddocks during the year seemed to pay off because help came from all quarters, including Andrew Wilson. The spline on the hub had also been damaged so that needed to be replaced along with the driveshaft.
By luck, former Canberran Alfa 105 racer Andrew Inglis had moved to nearby Benalla and was building himself a 147 TSC car. Andrew had happened to hear we were racing and had dropped in to take some photos and shoot the breeze with his TSC racing friends. In a very generous gesture Andrew offered to let the Peter pull the parts he needed of his car and to use his shed and tools on his property. You could say Andrew (and the Wilson brothers and Aarons brothers and his father George) were to Peter in Winton what Perez was to Verstappen that very same day in Abu Dhabi - essential to their wins.
Work was only completed in the morning before the last two races but the timing was perfect. Peter then finished 3rd and 2nd, only moving to the head of the leader board after the final race.
Congratulations Peter! You deserve to be the Twin Spark Cup Champion for 2021 with your fast, competitive and reliable racing all year long.
2021
Twin Spark Cup Championship
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