Round 1 at The Bend: Sterling Opens His Title Defence with a Statement
The 2025 ADC season opener at The Bend Motorsport Park delivered everything the series promised — close racing, multiple overtakes, and a defending champion who looked immediately at ease.
The 2025 Hankook Australian Drivers' Championship opened at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia — and the defending champion left no room for doubt about his intentions.
Damon Sterling, the Ironclad ID driver who took the inaugural ADC title in 2024, was composed throughout a weekend that tested the whole field. The Bend's combination of flowing high-speed sections and technical tight corners plays to the X1's ground-effect strengths, and the reigning champion used them well.
The racing throughout the field was the story the series needed for an opening round. Multiple lead changes across the race programme, wheel-to-wheel battles at the front and through the midfield, and a result that left the championship wide open heading into Round 2 at Calder Park.