Emerton wins 2014 F1 Mazda3 Celebrity Challenge

The two-race event saw Tour de France legend Robbie McEwen win the first stanza, but stall his Mazda3 at the start of race 2. This gave Emerton, who was one of the fastest celebrities throughout qualifying, a clean run to a comfortable win.

Emerton's second-place finish in race 1 saw him declared the overall winner, ahead of singer/actor Rob Mills (3-2 race results) and reality TV's 'The Bachelor' Tim Robards (5-3 race results). Winter Olympian Torah Bright finished fourth overall (4-6 race results), followed by Getaway TV presenter Catriona Rowntree (7-4 race results).

Mills and Robards had their own battles throughout the event, especially during race 2, running wide and battling fellow competitors on track.

Race 1's most spectacular spill went to model and TV personality, Rachael Finch, who ended up on her roof after an altercation, while UK motorcycle adventurer Charley Boorman experienced the four-wheel equivalent of a huge 'tank slapper', losing control of his car and crashing backwards into the barriers.

"This whole week has been a fantastic experience," Emerton said. "I love cars and I love the speed, so being unrestricted on a race track is a dream come true for me.

"The people who are here including the celebrities and those at Mazda are top people and made it an even better week than what it would have been just driving the cars. Who knows, if the opportunity comes along again to race cars I'll grab it with both hands."

Mills didn't rate his chances ahead of the event, so was over the moon with his podium finish.
"I'm absolutely rapt about how the week went. I've had friends that have done the Celebrity Challenge before who said it was the best week of their life, and they were absolutely right.

"I qualified fourth, yesterday third and today second and on the podium - it doesn't get much better than this. The rush that you get when racing is exhilarating, and the Mazda3 was a great little car to drive."

Robards achieved his pre-race goal of a podium finish and also enjoyed the week.
"My goal today was to get on the podium, though I knew first or second might be a bit hard, but I managed to find myself up there. I started in fifth place today, and before I knew it I was up into third and battling it out with (Catriona) Rowntree who I was surprised to see up there.

"It has definitely been a week of firsts, and something I will never forget."