Dale Wood has claimed victory in the first race of the Porsche Wilson Security Carrera Cup Australia alongside the FIA Formula 1 World Championship opening race weekend in Melbourne.
Nick McBride started the race strong, leading the field in to the first corner from pole positions, unfortunately he would be unable to make the most of the advantage as the safety car came out to deal with a start-line incident.
Cameron Hill failed to get away from the grid at the start and Anthony Gilbertson was unable to avoid the stricken #111 car, putting both Porsche’s out of the race.
On the restart McBride ran off the circuit through turn one, falling down the field and giving Wood a chance to grab the opportunity ahead of Jordan Love and Jaxon Evans.
Wood proved dominant throughout the race as he fended off the challenge from Evans, who had made his way around Love in the closing stages of the race.
0.27 seconds would cover the gap between the race victor Wood and Evans, while Love took third place ahead of defending champion David Wall and James Moffat in fifth place.
“That’s two race wins by round two, so I’m pretty happy with that,” said a jubilant Wood. “Jaxon once again put on a ton of pressure and was really strong all race. I’ve got to get my starts sorted and then get a nice and fast car in the race. It’s all looking good,”
“We’re definitely starting where we want to tomorrow. We can’t get complacent as there are 25 blokes behind who all want the position I’m in. It’s a grouse way to start the weekend.”
The TAG Heuer Pro-Am battle
Credit: Porsche
The TAG Heuer Pro-Am competitors did well to avoid the start-line chaos as Roger Lago increased his win streak to four, once again dominating the class as he has done this year.
Maxx Twigg and Sam Shahin pushed Lago to the end but had to settle for second and third respectively.
“It’s obviously disappointing for the other boys not to finish the race; I’ve been on the receiving end of that a few times here. I just had to stay out of trouble,” said Lago
“I had Pro drivers Peter Major and Josh Hunt behind me and I didn’t want to get involved with them so I let them go and cruised around to the finish,” added Lago.
Porsche Wilson Security Carrera Cup Australia – Melbourne – Race 1 results
1. #100 Dale Wood (Pro) 10 laps, 26:04.6
2. #7 Jaxon Evans (Pro) 10 laps, 26:04.8
3. #777 Jordan Love (Pro) 10 laps, 26:05.8
4. #1 David Wall (Pro) 10 laps, 26:07.5
5. #18 James Moffat (Pro) 10 laps, 26:07.9
6. #888 Alex Davison (Pro) 10 laps, 26:08.2
7. #88 Dylan O’Keeffe (Pro) 10 laps, 26:10.4
8. #77 Michael Almond (Pro) 10 laps, 26:14.7
9. #14 Peter Major (Pro) 10 laps, 26:19.6
10. #15 Josh Hunt (Pro) 10 laps, 26:19.9
11. #23 Roger Lago (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 10 laps, 26:22.0
12. #80 Max Twigg (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 10 laps, 26:25.1
13. #13 Sam Shahin (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 10 laps, 26:28.6
14. #6 Tim Miles (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 10 laps, 26:28.9
15. #8 Nick McBride (Pro) 10 laps, 26:29.3
16. #22 Dean Cook (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 10 laps, 26:32.5
17. #5 Greg Taylor (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 10 laps, 26:33.2
18. #35 Indiran Padayachee (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 10 laps, 27:05.5
19. #808 John Steffensen (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 10 laps, 27:52.1
20. #12 Adam Garwood (Pro) 9 laps, 26:39.8
21. #20 Adrian Flack (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 27:44.7
DNF #131 Graham Williams (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 6 laps, 18:33.4
DNF #4 Stephen Grove (TAG Heuer Pro-Am)
