Hedge shakes off penalty for Carrera Cup win at The Bend

Callum Hedge has responded to a post-qualifying penalty to take a convincing win in Race 1 of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia, with Sam Shahin staving off Adrian Flack to win the Am class.

Hedge had set pole in Qualifying with a lap record but was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding another competitor to see Dylan O’Keefe start from the number one grid position, sharing the front-row with Jackson Walls.

With the afternoon sun sinking, long shadows covered the starting grid as Wall squeezed O’Keefe to the inside and onto the grass, Hedge going around the outside of Wall to storm to the lead after only three corners.

O’Keefe was third, from Pancione, Simon Fallon, Bayley Hall from Dale Wood and Max Vidau, with  Nick McBride ninth from Garth Tander.

Shahin made into the lead of the Am class in 18th overall, having started behind Am-class pole-sitter Adrian Flack – with Maxwell between the pair on track.

Hedge lead by more 1.1s at the end of Lap 1, as Fabian Coulthard – having finished fourth in the 86 Series in the session literally before the Porsches hit the track – passed Anthony Mouzouris for P12.

Hegde was swapping purple sectors with Coulthard and O’Keefe, as the #17 entry continued to build its lead over Walls and O’Keefe.

Lap 4 and Pro entry Maxwell passed Shahin for P18, putting Flack next on the road 0.9s behind the Am-class leader, but losing ground to The Bend Motorsport Park owner.

The mid-way point of the 11-lap race saw Hedge 1.3sec from Walls, with O’Keefe 0.8s behind from Pancione, Fallon, Hall, Wood, Vidau, McBride and Tander.

Jackson Walls set the fastest lap – a 1:51.2246 – on Lap 5 to stabilise the 1.3s deficit to leader Hedge, the Objective Racing Porsche taking precious tenths out of Hedge, while further back Alex Davison lost the lower part of the #222’s splitter after an off-track solo excursion.

In the Am class, Flack had closed the gap to Shahin and began to mount pressure on the #13 entry on Lap 8, the pair still in positions 18th and 19th overall.

Flack’s consistency came to the fore as Shahin, who’d easily outpaced Flack earlier in the race, forced Shahin into defensive lines as the gap between the cars evaporated.

The gap up front was 1.2 as the minor resurgence from Walls didn’t eventuate, with Hedge in control to chip away and extend it to 1.4s with two laps left to run.

David Wall lost 13th from Mouzouris in the penultimate lap, with Coulthard still 12^th behind King and 10-placed Tander – the order in which all four would finish.

Shahin held on to win the Am class from Flack, who was 0.4s behind at the end of the race.

Hedge took the flag by 1.0736s to Walls and O’Keefe, with Pancione, Fallon, Hall, Wood, Vidau and McBride ahead of Tander to complete the Top 10.

The Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia field returns to the track for Race 2 at 10:40 local/11:10 AEST Sunday August 20.

2023 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia
Race 1 Saturday August 19