KODY Garland will take a half point lead into the third round of the Aussie Cars series to be held at Morgan Park in Queensland in June.
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This follows the 20-year-old's win in the second round at Eastern Creek. The series will wrap up at Sandown on September.
Garland had a win the opening round at Mt Panorama in February and followed this with a second placing at Symmonds Plains in Tasmania in April.
He said the third round was cut from four races to one due to varying reasons, including thick fog, and points were halved. That's why he only has the half point advantage.
Garland qualified in fourth place but grabbed the lead in the second last lap.
"I won by three tenths of a second,'' he said.
"It was close.''
This is Garland's second year in the series. He was named rookie of the year in his debut in 2019 when he said he contested most of the season in an older car that struggled to match it with the race leaders.
Last year Covid-19 restricted the series to one race, on the Gold Coast, where he was t-boned and failed to finish.
"So this is my second full season,'' he said.
While scoring an overall win is his immediate goal, Garland admits he's already looking ahead, explaining the Aussie Cars is regarded as a feeder class category to the big time.
"The TCR series is something I'd like to get involved in,'' he said.
"This is a new series that hasn't got its legs yet, but they say it will be bigger than the Supercars.''
However, he's already been in discussions with Supercar teams, as recently as last weekend and he hopes this could lead to a trial, possibly later this year.
"To drive Supercars would be awesome,'' he said.
"It's every kid's dream.''
Garland said he was clocking speeds around 205km at Eastern Creek and 202km at Mt Panorama.
Does that make him nervous? No way, he explained.
"If you're nervous you probably shouldn't be there.''
Garland did his apprenticeship driving go karts and won a State and national level before graduating to the Aussie Cars. He's a self confessed rev head.
"I grew up on a property and I was riding dirt bikes since I was a young kid,'' he explained.
Garland hasn't raced at Morgan Park before but he has driven the track.
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"Last year I had the opportunity to drive a GT4 car there with a big team, so I have seen the track before,'' he explained.
"Being at this stage of the series and leading, I want to have everything down pat with the car and everything. There are funny things at different tracks.''
It's all part of the meticulous planning that goes into a campaign, he said.
And that'll be all worth it if he gets his name on the championship trophy at Sandown in September.
