Jaxon Evans took the final victory of the Australian Grand Prix supporting Porsche Wilson Security Carrera Cup Australia weekend, ending the win streak of Dale Wood.
An eventful start would see pole-sitter and winner of the previous three races, Dale Wood and Alex Davidson were collected in the first corner as an over ambitious Michael Almond missed his breaking point and locked up.
Davidson was out of the race at this point while Wood was left to recover to an eventual eleventh place, disappointment for the Melbourne local who was hoping to complete a clean sweep of victories.
Following a brief safety car period to recover the stricken Porsche of Davidson, Evans took the initiative and wouldn’t look back as he recorded his third win of the year after taking two victories in the opening race weekend of the year in Adelaide, extending his championship lead.
“To get back-to-back round victories for the first two rounds is obviously the perfect way to kick off the year and show that we’re not here to muck around, but to fight for the championship,” said Evans.
“I was pretty lucky to get away with that one. I can’t thank to team enough for the car they’ve given me this weekend.
“I struggled to get past Dale in the first three races and it’s unfortunate what happened to him in the last race.”
Dylan O’Keefe recorded his best finish of the race weekend ahead of Jordan Love who managed to hold off the defending champion David Wall, who had made a comeback from the fourteenth place he finished in the third race after contact caused a spin.
Nick McBride ended the weekend with a fifth place finish, ahead of James Moffat, and rookie Peter Major who recorded his best finish of the weekend.
Grove takes second TAG Heuer Pro-Am victory
Stephen Grove finished the race in eighth place overall to take the final TAG Heuer Pro-Am victory of the weekend, and record the best finish of a Pro-Am competitor of 2018.
Pro competitor Josh Hunt finished in ninth place, just ahead of Max Twigg who took Pro-Am second place and Roger Lago who completed the podium, finishing the race in twelfth place, just behind the recovering Dale Wood.
“I got a bit bullied in that last race, which was a bit frustrating,” said Grove. “I didn’t have enough pace to fight with them properly and the team were on the radio just telling me to behave and consolidate the round win.
“I can’t thank the McElrea Racing boys enough, not just for giving me a good car but for keeping me calm.”
The Porsche Wilson Security Carrera Cup Australia resumes on 22-25 April at Phillip Island, Jaxon Evans leads the way in the Pro standings with a 69 point buffer ahead of Dale Wood. While Wood has more race victories this season, Evans has been consistent finishing every race this season in the top two.
Defending champion David Wall holds on to third place ahead of Dylan O’Keeffe and Jordan Love.
In the Michelin Juniors standings Evans leads Love and Adam Garwood.
The TAG Heuer Pro-Am standings are topped by Roger Lago, Max Twigg and Stephen Grove.
Porsche Wilson Security Carrera Cup Australia – Melbourne – Race 4 results
1. #7 Jaxon Evans (Pro) 9 laps, 19:57.0
2. #88 Dylan O’Keeffe (Pro) 9 laps, 20:00.5
3. #777 Jordan Love (Pro) 9 laps, 20:04.2
4. #1 David Wall (Pro) 9 laps, 20:04.5
5. #8 Nick McBride (Pro) 9 laps, 20:05.4
6. #18 James Moffat (Pro) 9 laps, 20:06.7
7. #14 Peter Major (Pro) 9 laps, 20:09.4
8. #4 Stephen Grove (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:13.0
9. #15 Josh Hunt (Pro) 9 laps, 20:13.4
10. #80 Max Twigg (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:15.8
11. #100 Dale Wood (Pro) 9 laps, 20:16.5
12. #23 Roger Lago (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:17.6
13. #20 Adrian Flack (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:23.6
14. #6 Tim Miles (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:23.6
15. #12 Adam Garwood (Pro) 9 laps, 20:26.4
16. #22 Dean Cook (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:33.3
17. #19 Anthony Gilbertson (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:34.0
18. #13 Sam Shahin (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:38.3
19. #131 Graham Williams (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 21:00.3
20. #35 Indiran Padayachee (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 21:08.7
21. #77 Michael Almond (Pro) 8 laps, 20:22.7
22. #9 Marc Cini (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 8 laps, 22:16.4
DNF #5 Greg Taylor (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 5 laps, 12:12.1
DNF #888 Alex Davison (Pro)