Callum Hedge has claimed victory in the opening race of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia championship at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.
A lights-to-flag drive from Hedge saw him score victory in a frenetic 16-lap encounter, finishing ahead of EMA Motorsport’s David Russell, with Timken Racing’s Dale Wood completing the podium.
Earlier in the day, the Earl Bamber Motorsport driver picked up his first-ever pole position in the category with a 1:12.1662s in qualifying with race contenders Russell and Wood lapping second and third fastest in that session.
In the Morris Finance Pro-Am Class Adrian Flack took pole with a 1:13.5661s lap, almost half a second ahead of title contenders Sam Shahin and Liam Talbot.
In the race, Hedge led from the outset but was never more than two or three car lengths in front of Russell, who pressured the young New Zealander hard despite damage to his front splitter.
Wood, who finished third, spent much of his race defending from points leader Harri Jones.
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Interest however lay with Aaron Love, who started the race in 15th position after being denied a flying lap due to a red flag late in qualifying.
Love moved up 11 spots to finish fourth, breaking the lap record with a 1:12.0084s on Lap 9.
Fellow title rival Dylan O’Keeffe finished fifth, with Jones consolidating his lead with a sixth-place finish.
Previous lap record holder Nick McBride finished seventh, with 2017 title winner David Wall in eighth.
Luke Youlden and Ryan Suhle rounded out the top 10.
In Morris Pro-Am, Shahin claimed a memorable victory to continue his strong track record of recent success on the Gold Coast streets.
Shahin took the lead with a strong start, while Talbot also jumped polesitter Adrian Flack on the opening lap to climb to second.
The trio then spent the remainder of the race locked together in a tense battle, Shahin edging out Talbot and Flack at the line.
Pro-Am Class leader Geoff Emery finished fourth.
Carrera Cup is next on track tomorrow for Race 2 at 08:35 local time/09:35 AEDT.
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