McElrea Racing were in celebration mode after the success of their drivers in the seventh round of Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Australia on the streets of the Gold Coast.
Bayley Hall became the seventh driver in 2023 to win a round after he took the third and final race for the weekend. He won the race ahead of Jackson Walls while Melbourne Performance Centre’s Fabian Coulthard was a close third.
Walls came into the race with a one-point advantage over Earl Bamber Motorsport’s Callum Hedge. The latter was scheduled to start the race from 11th. But he had a late reprieve with three accident damage cars from the previous race non-starters.
After two blinding starts, Garth Walden Racing’s Dylan O’Keeffe could not replicated for a third time. He was third on the road behind the McElrea duo initially before Coulthard passed him.
O’Keeffe’s fourth spot was tentative as Dale Wood challenged, looked a couple of times at Turn 4 before he made the move stick at Turn 11 on Lap 9. Wood then targeted Coulthard but came unstuck at the first chicane on Lap 13 and damaged his car.
Behind them were Christian Pancione and Hedge who only passed one car in the race, that of Ryder Quinn who would also lose out to Alex Davison several laps later.
Next was Luke Youlden who started 13th and made his way inside the top ten where he finished in front of Angelo Mouzouris, Marcos Flack, Nick McBride, Wood and Courtney Prince.
Behind the Equity-One Pros Adrian Flack was the first of the SP Tools Pro-Am drivers ahead of Dean Cook, Sam Shahin, Marc Cini and Tim Miles.
Walls leads Hedge by 21 points with O’Keeffe still in mathematical calculation for the title in third, 167 points from the lead. Meanwhile victory for Flack saw him win the Gold Coast Pro-Am round and take the class lead by 15 points over Shahin with Cook a further eight back in third.
The final round of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship will be held at the VAILO Adelaide 500 on November 23-26.
