Sonic Motor Racing Services is an Australian racing team that is competes in the

Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship Porsche Carrera Cup Australia (known commercially as the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia) is an Australian motor racing series open to Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. First held in 2003, it is administered by Porsche Cars Australia Pty Ltd ...

, Porsche Sprint Challenge, the

Australian Formula Ford Championship The Australian Formula Ford Championship is an Australian motor racing competition for drivers of Formula Ford racing cars, held annually since 1970. From 1970 until 1992 it was a national series and from 1993 until 2013 the series was sanctione ...

, and the Victorian Formula Ford Championship. The team was formed by Michael Ritter, son of long time touring car racer Graham Ritter and brother of V8 Supercar racer Greg Ritter. Ritter formed the team in 1998 to compete in the Australian

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

Championship. The team used

Van Diemen Van Diemen International, Ltd. was a British race car manufacturer based in Snetterton, Norfolk, United Kingdom. The company had a reputation for high-volume production runs of its cars, the most well-known of which is its series of Formula For ...

chassis' for the first decade of their existence, which brought them championship victories in the Australian Formula Ford Championship in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Formula Ford

The team was formed to run the Davison family, beginning in the 1998 Australian Formula Ford Championship with

Alex Davison Alexander Davison (born 3 November 1979) is an Australian racing driver. He won the 2004 Australian Carrera Cup Championship. As part of the Davison motorsport family, he is the older brother of Will Davison, grandson of Lex Davison and cousin ...

. Alex would run with the team for the 1998 & 1999 seasons before going overseas and handing the ride to younger brother

Will Davison William 'THE SOOK' Davison (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.17 Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Repco Supercars Championship. Davison is a two-time winner of the Bathur ...

. Will would win the title in 2001 for the team, now entered under the Garry Rogers Motorsport banner. Sonic would go back to back winning the 2002 championship with GRM protégé Jamie Whincup. The team would win their first championship under their own name in 2004 with David Reynolds. Sonic would expand to 3 cars in 2006, running future supercars drivers

Tim Blanchard Tim Blanchard (born 30 June 1987) is an Australian racing driver. Blanchard has raced in several other motor racing series, including the British Formula Ford Championship, and was the winner of the 2007 Australian Formula Ford Championship. ...

and Tim Slade, who would finish second in the championship as well as Todd Fiore. For 2007 the team would switch to

Mygale Mygale Racing Car Constructor (Mygale SARL) is a French racing car manufacturer that specialises in the production of single seater chassis for use in formula racing. It is most notable for its Formula Ford chassis. Mygale also produces the cha ...

Chassis' and Blanchard would win the championship, James Moffat would finish third for the team. Sonic would run Nick Percat under the Walkinshaw racing name in the 2007, 2008, & 2009 series. He would win the series in 2009, this being the most dominant season in the history of the series. Percat would win a record 12 races in a season, as well as a record 9 races in a row. In 2010 the team expanded to 4 cars, including one for future supercars driver

Cameron Waters Cameron Waters (born 3 August 1994) is an Australian motor racing driver who competes in the Repco Supercars Championship. He currently drives the No. 6 Ford Mustang GT for Tickford Racing. He is the cousin of Australian Superbike champion Jos ...

. Waters would win the series in 2011.

Garry Jacobson Garry Jacobson (born 28 February 1992 in Shepparton, Australia) is an Australian motor racing driver. He previously competed in the Supercars Championship, driving the No. 76 Holden ZB Commodore for PremiAir Racing. Jacobson won the 2016 Super ...

would also drive for the team in 2011 and 2012. Anton DePasquale would debut with the team in 2012 and sweep the final round of the series at Winton. He would go full time with the team in 2013 alongside

Simon Hodge Simon Hodge is a racing driver from Adelaide, South Australia, Australia and winner of the 2014 Australian Drivers' Championship. In March 2014 he set a new lap record for the Adelaide Street Circuit and in April 2014 also broke the Mount Panoram ...

. in 2016

Leanne Tander Leanne Ferrier (sometimes known as Leanne Tander, born 5 June 1980 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian race car driver having raced cars such as Formula Ford, Formula 3 and in the Supercars Championship. Career Ferrier started in karts i ...

would win the series for Sonic, with Max Vidau 8th. Sonic would again become back to back champions in 2017, with Max Vidau winning the series. Future Super 2 driver

Angelo Mouzouris Angelo Mouzouris (born 10 August 2001) is an Australian racing driver from Melbourne, Australia currently competing in the Dunlop Super2 Series with MW Motorsport, driving the No. 6 Nissan Altima L33. Biography Mouzouris started karting i ...

would make his debut with the team, Hamish Ribarits would also make his first start in 2017. In 2018 Sonic Motor Racing Services would win their third championship in a row, with

Hunter McElrea Hunter McElrea (born 21 November 1999 in Los Angeles, California, United States) is a New Zealand racing driver currently competing in Indy NXT for Andretti Autosport. Career Karting McElrea began his career in karting at the age of seven. For ...

winning the series from Ribarits who had remained with the team. Mouzouris would finish 6th. Sonic would become the first team to win 4 back to back championships,

would win the series in 2019. Jay Hanson would also make his full time debut with the team in 2019. With the return of a national championship in 2021, Sonic would field entries for 3rd year driver Harrison Goodman and debutant Valentino Astuti.

Carrera Cup Australia

The team also ran

Australian Carrera Cup Porsche Carrera Cup Australia (known commercially as the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia) is an Australian motor racing series open to Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. First held in 2003, it is administered by Porsche Cars Australia Pty Ltd ...

and won the championship in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

giving David Reynolds his second national title. The team ran programs in the Porsche Drivers Challenge, steering Sven Burchartz to win the 2007 Porsche Drivers Challenge, then backing it up winning the 2008 Porsche GT3 Challenge that succeeded it. Sonic would not return to the national series until 2014 fielding cars for Nick McBride, Nick Foster, and Adrian Mastronardo. This lineup would return for 2015 with foster winning the championship. Ash Walsh would replace Foster for 2016. The team would enter Jordan Love and

Andre Heimgartner Andre Heimgartner (born 8 June 1995) is a New Zealand motor-racing driver who currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship driving the No. 8 Holden Commodore ZB for Brad Jones Racing. Career Formula racing At 12 years of age commenc ...

for 2017 alongside long time driver Nick McBride with Heimgartner finishing runner up in the championship. They would step up to 5 cars for the 2018 season running Peter Major, Michael Almond, and Dale Wood alongside Love in the Pro class with a 5th entry for Graham Williams in the Pro-Am class. Sonic scaled back to 4 full time cars for 2019 with Thomas Maxwell joining Almond, Love, and Wood. Aaron love would join the team for the final round in Surfers Paradise. Jordan Love won the teams 2nd championship For the shortened 2020 season the team would continue with Love, Almond, and Wood joined by rookie Max Vidau. The team would scale down to 3 cars for the 2021 season, running Almond, Aaron Love, & Simon Fallon.

Supercars Development Series

For the 2009 season the team acquired a pair of Ford Falcons from

Triple Eight Race Engineering Triple Eight Race Engineering, (branded as Red Bull Ampol Racing) is an Australian motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. The team has been the only Brisbane based V8 Supercar team since its formation, originally operating ...

to run for James Moffat and Bryce Washington. Washington left the team after the second round of the

Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series The Dunlop Super2 Series (formerly known as Dunlop Series, Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series, HPDC V8 Supercars Series, Konica Minolta V8 Supercars Series and Konica V8 Supercars/Lites Series) is an Australian touring car racing competition, specifical ...

. The team have subsequently secured a wildcard entry for the 2009 L&H 500 and 2009 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, although they then did not use the entry after Washington left the team mid-season.

References

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External links

Sonic Motor Racing Services website
Supercars Championship teams Australian auto racing teams Sports teams in Victoria (Australia) Auto racing teams established in 1998