Mazda’s turbocharged Mazda3 MPS has scored two podium finishes at round two of the Australian Tarmac Challenge (ATC) held at Sydney’s Eastern Creek raceway over the weekend.
The high-performance 190kW hot-hatch finished third outright in the event’s ‘Street’ category at the hands of carsales.com.au motoring journalist Feann Torr while his colleague Matt Brogan was second in the event’s ‘Rookie’ category in the same car.
The challenging one-day event made up of individual runs over 24 tarmac tests including motorkhanas, figure eight skid circuits, hill circuits and circuit sprints, saw the street-spec Mazda3 MPS out-run and out-manoeuvre some of the world’s top performance brands including Ferrari, Porsche, BMW and Nissan.
In true testament to the class-leading handling for which Mazda3 is known, Matt Brogan kicked off the day in style, out-manoeuvring a $500,000+ Ferrari F430 Scuderia on the first two motorkhana runs.
Not to be outdone by his rookie teammate, ATC regular Feann Torr clocked impressive times right throughout the day - a top effort culminating with him clocking the fastest ‘Street’ time on the second and final run of the 3.9 kilometre Eastern Creek track. Brogan was not far off the pace with the third fastest time.
“At full tilt in sixth gear the hot hatch's 2.3-litre turbocharged engine propelled it to more than 215km/h down the front straight, and into turn one at just under 180km/h,” said an impressed Torr.
“The brakes on the Mazda3 MPS were also remarkably robust, standing up to repeated punishment and allowing us to dive very deeply into corners before hitting the anchors.
“This year marks our best ever result at an ATC event, so the team at carsales.com.au couldn’t be happier.”
