August 26, 2026: Two championships will be decided at Queensland Raceway next month and neither leader has anything to sit on. Marco Manson leaves The Bend’s International circuit at the head of AU4 Gen2 on 255 points, six clear of Jensen Marold on 249, having converted two of the weekend’s three races. In Gen1 the margin is a single point, Jackson Culver on 229 to Koby Wilson’s 228.
Behind them the picture is settled but not silent. William Beck holds third in Gen2 on 111. Lewis Gotch arrived in South Australia leading Gen1 on the back of a clean sweep at Round 3 and leaves it third on 216, thirteen points adrift, a swing built almost entirely on the final afternoon.
Marold set the benchmark in the opening qualifying session with a 1.49.618, but the times stood only until the stewards had finished. Cosolo, Stewart, Baills, Burton, Imbrogno and Marold were each handed grid penalties for failing to respect a double yellow, which handed Beck the first pole of his category career on a 1:49.9610. Three tenths covered him and Manson, and a thousandth of a second covered Manson and Marold, 1:50.2610 against 1:50.2620. Marold answered in the second session with a 1:49.3520, the quickest lap anyone managed all weekend, 0.2960 seconds ahead of debutant Joe Imbrogno, with Manson and Beck two tenths further back again.
In race one, Jamie-Lee Su stalled on the grid and Angus Baills produced a save that was the only reason the field did not see a red flag. Manson disposed of Beck inside the opening laps and the two New Zealanders drew away together, Xavier Babbage-Hockey better than a second adrift in third. Imbrogno had a look at Marold for fourth into Turn 5 and briefly made it stick, only for Marold to reclaim the place on the exit.
A late excursion for Anton Du brought out the safety car and, with the clock still running, what remained was an eight-lap encounter compressed into roughly two minutes of green. Babbage-Hockey relieved Beck of second when the race resumed, then spun out of it after contact with Brock Burton. Beck’s afternoon unravelled from there, Burton and Marold both finding a way through and a trip across the run-off costing him fourth to Imbrogno metres before the start-finish line. Manson took the flag 3.78 seconds up on Burton, with Marold eight tenths further back in third.
Marold made amends at the start of race two, launching past both Beck and Manson to lead into the first corner and immediately building a gap. Imbrogno moved by Babbage-Hockey for fourth at the start of lap two, Baills ran wide moments later, and Babbage-Hockey soon had the position back. Burton’s race turned into a pit visit for a replacement front wing. The decisive move came on the second-last lap, Babbage-Hockey taking third from Beck and holding it to the flag for his first rostrum of the season. Marold won by 5.3100 seconds from Manson and set a 1:51.3210 on his way to it.
The final race was reshaped before the lights, Marold’s clutch letting go under an hour from the start and consigning him to a pit lane departure. That put Imbrogno alongside Manson on the front row, and the two of them cleared off while Baills, Burton and Stewart argued over the places behind. Imbrogno led on debut until a small error put a wheel off the road and gave Manson the lead. Beck and Imbrogno came within centimetres of each other as Manson disappeared up the road.
Luca Cosolo made progress through Lana Flack and Burton, while Baills took fourth from De’argo Stewart and then lost the tip of his nosecone on lap five. Marold’s recovery started in earnest on lap eight, Flack first, Burton two laps after that, Babbage-Hockey and Stewart on lap eleven, and Baills a lap later in Cosolo’s wheeltracks. Stewart was out late with a mechanical failure. Imbrogno hauled Manson back to inside a second and ran out of laps, Manson taking his second win of the round by 0.4860 seconds. Imbrogno claimed the fastest lap at 1:51.1170 in second, Beck was third, Cosolo fourth and Marold fifth, 19.5500 seconds down but with points that mattered.
Gen1 was tighter still across the weekend. Gotch topped the first session with a 1:54.1680, 0.0170 seconds in hand over Wilson and seven tenths over Rixon Salvino, while Culver managed a single timed lap and sat seventeenth outright at the end of it. He answered in the second session with a 1:53.2400 for class pole, 0.1880 ahead of Gotch, Wilson third.
Wilson opened the racing with a win by 0.3270 seconds over Culver, who took the class fastest lap with a 1:55.17, and Gotch completed the class podium. Race two took the fight away from Wilson entirely. He had passed Culver for the early class lead when Baills rejoined the circuit in front of him, and the avoiding action left grass packed into his side pod and an engine that eventually cooked itself. Rugby Mangan’s defence of third in class was undone by a black and white flag for weaving on the straight, letting Salvino past, and Culver ran out the winner by 15.0890 seconds from Gotch and Salvino.
A fresh engine and floor went into Wilson’s car overnight and the difference showed. He cleared both Culver and Gotch in race three, built a two-second class buffer and finished 11.3870 seconds up the road. Gotch crossed the line third in class and lost it to a post-race tyre infringement, the place going to Salvino.
Manson took the Gen2 round on 68 points from Marold on 52, with Imbrogno third on 41 in his first weekend in the category. Culver took Gen1 on 64 from Wilson on 51 and Salvino on 38.
The 2026 AU4 Championship concludes at a new venue for the series, Queensland Raceway, from September 25 to 27.
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Round 4 Results – Gen2
Manson (68)
Marold (52)
Imbrogno (41)
Round 4 Results – Gen1
Culver (64)
Wilson (51)
Salvino (38)
Gen2 Championship Standings after Round 4
Manson (255)
Marold (249)
Beck (111)
Cosolo (107)
Stewart (88)
Baills (85)
Burton (78)
Flack (74)
Babbage-Hockey (69)
Imbrogno (41)
Su (17)
Lyzen (10)
Du (1)
Gen1 Championship Standings after Round 4
Culver (229)
Wilson (228)
Gotch (216)
Dudley (122)
Mangan (90)
Salvino (80)
Kazaglis (30)
Media Contact: Samantha Stevens,
Event Administrator/Media Liaison, AU4 Championship
Email and request for images: media@au4championship.com
