The 2022 champion followed through from qualifying fastest for Races 1 and 2 to win the opening race, which included two safety car periods, by 6.9s in the Porsche Centre Melbourne Motorsport entry.

Second place went to fellow Pro driver Bayley Hall from McElrea Racing with Earl Bamber Motorsport’s Dale Wood third. In Pro Am, Rodney Jane (Sonic Racing) won after he qualified fourth in the class.

Jones led from the start and had a 2.5s advantage by the end of the first lap. Ryder Quinn held onto his second starting position with Hall hard on his heels and ahead of Nick McBride. The latter lost his fourth place at Turn 1 to Wood on the second lap.

McBride was the reason for the first safety car when he stopped on track shortly after a spin. Scott Pye was already a race casualty and pitted with radiator damage.

The second safety car emerged when Pro Am driver Danny Stutterd spun and had a drive issue as he tried to resume.

Each restart saw Jones able to gap his opposition immediately. On the second occasion Quinn came under challenge from Hall who was able to make a successful move between Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 12. It opened the door sufficiently for Wood to get past shortly after.

Quinn was able to hold fourth to the flag after 13 laps. Marcos Flack was next after he qualified second but was penalised two start places with a pitlane infringement in that session. He was followed by Marco Giltrap, Dylan O’Keeffe, David Russell, Fabian Coulthard and 10th place Jackson Walls who crashed in qualifying and started 27th.

Behind the 11th place Glen Wood was Jane with his nearest Pro Am class rival Adrian Flack behind Pro driver Tom McLennan. Third in Pro Am was Matt Belford, in between Pro drivers Lockie Bloxsom and Nash Morris who missed qualifying completely.

The second race of the season is on Friday begins at 6:25pm AEDT and is expected to finish in the Melbourne twilight.