The first race of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia fourth round was a night race, just the third time the one-make category has raced in the dark.

Although it was a line-astern finish due to a last safety car under which the race finished, Jones never looked like losing.

The Porche Centre Melbourne Motorsport driver led from the start and won ahead of Garth Walden Racing’s Dylan O’Keeffe who started on the front row and held second throughout the 11 laps.

McElrea Racing’s Jackson Walls and Earl Bamber Motorsport’s Dale Wood started third and fourth respectively and clashed at Turn 2. Wood limped back to the pits and out of the race while Walls continued in fourth, for a while at least.

Ultimately a deflating tyre slowed him as he pressed on for a finish, but he ran off at Turn 1 and nudged the tyre barrier on Lap 9 and brought out the Safety Car.

Third place went to TekworkX Motorsport’s David Russell with Marco Giltrap next ahead of Ryder Quinn, Angelo Mouzouris, Bayley Hall and Glen Wood.

Tenth place went to Garth Tander who started rear of grid along with Marcos Flack after the two tangled at the start of qualifying. Flack finished 15th behind Fabian Coulthard, Nick McBride, Nash Morris and Tom McLennan.

Behind the rest of the Equity-One Professional class runners in Lockie Bloxsom, Harrison Goodman was Adrian Flack who was first in SP Pro-Am. Rod Jane was second ahead of Matt Belford who headed Stephen Grove, Matt Slavin, Dean Cook and Indiran Padayachee.

Provisionally, Jones’ championship and Pro class lead is out to 118 points over Russell, while Walls and Wood have slipped to third and fourth. Flack continues to lead Pro-Am with Slavin second and Jane third.