Hedge goes back to back in Carrera Cup

Callum Hedge has made it back-to-back victories after a commanding win in the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia at The Bend Motorsport Park.

Race 2 of the weekend – the longest at 20 laps – saw Hedge start from pole after winning yesterday’s bout.

Off the start, front-row started Jackson Walls made a better jump but Hedge held the inside line into Turn 1, with Simon Fallon jumping to third from fifth as he passed Dylan O’Keeffe and Christian Pancione.

Fabian Coulthard then ended up spinning the BWT Melbourne Performance Centre entry to face the wrong direction at Turn 5, as he dropped to the back of the field, with no apparent contact causing the incident.

Hegde quickly started to push and build a cushion to Walls and Fallon, while further back Garth Tander ran Angelo Mouzouris out of road at Turn 6 to send the Bob Jane T-Marts car off the track.

In the Am class, Dean Cook had climbed to 17th to take the lead from Sam Shahin, who was in 19th and ahead before being caught up in contact within the battle pack.

Tander had made up two places since the start before Dale Wood passed him for eighth at the start of Lap 2, as Max Vidau took O’Keeffe for fifth with a divebomb at Turn 6.

By Lap 6, Hedge had built a 1.9s lead over Walls, with Fallon 0.3s back in third from Pancione, Vidau and O’Keeffe.

Alex Davison set the fastest lap in Lap 7 with a 21:50.9817, while Chris Pither passed Thomas Maxwell and then took Ryder Quinn on Lap 8 to move into 13th.

TekworkX Motorsport driver Vidau had closed the gap to fourth-placed Pancione, the Supercheap Auto entry under severe pressure for most of Lap 9 and 10, with Hedge leading by 2.5s from Fallon at the halfway point of the race.

Cook was still the Am leader in 18th^,with Shahin on his rear bumper with the gap officially less than a second and start to challenge.

Adrian Flack went off track to fall three places to 25th on Lap 12, with Coulthard in 23rd after his opening lap spin.

Shahin was still on the back of Cook for the Am lead, while Hedge was 1.2s clear at the head of the field.

Pancione had responded to the threat of Vidau, turning up the wick before Vidau remounted his attack on Lap 15.

Fallon, in third, started edging closer to Walls in second to trail by only 0.6s with five laps remaining.

Walls had reduced the gap to Hedge to 1.05s, but could not make a significant impression on the race leader.

Coulthard passed Jane for 21st on Lap 18 to sit behind team-mate Courtney Prince, as Bayley Hall in seventh set a new fastest lap – a 1:50.933 – before Fallon in third place knocked it off with a 1:50.8816 as he hunted down Walls to sit less than a tenth off the Carrera Cup lap record.

Lap 19, and Shahin was still glued to the rear of Cook’s Porsche in the battle for the lead of the Am class, with no more than two car-lengths between the pair for 10 laps of the 20-lap race.

Shahin worked to get clear air on the straight, as the aero wash of the 992 911 makes it more difficult to follow.

Shahin had several looks to pass, but Cook prevailed – a minor mistake almost costing him the Am win on the last lap – leaving the two Am drivers equal on points for the round ahead of this afternoon’s final race.

Hedge won by 0.77s ahead of Walls, with Fallon 0.7s further back to finish third as he did yesterday.

Tander came home ninth, while Davison ended the race in 16th and Coulthard 20th place.

Race 3 starts at 14:35 local time/15:05 AEST this afternoon, Sunday August 20.

2023 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia
Race 2 Sunday August 20