Kane Rose has won the opening race of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia at Sandown International Raceway.
After qualifying second behind Jon Trende, Rose took the lead early in the 10-lap Race 1, eventually going on to take victory aboard his Porsche 996 Cup car, claiming victory in his first appearance in the category for the season.
Trende finished second and was the best-placed 997 Cup Class competitor, finishing ahead of Jeff Bobik and early race leader Hugh Gardiner, who made his series debut.
The victory comes a season after Rose dominated all three GT3 Cup Challenge races at the 2010 Sandown round.
“We pretty much picked up where we left off last year. The car hasn’t changed a great deal, so it’s great to come back and have a win,” said Rose.
“It’s good to get back out there and race again. I was a bit rusty for the start due to not enough racing, so hopefully we can improve on that for the next race.”
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After finishing second, Trende believes his can challenge his fellow Victorian for race victory tomorrow.
“I made one mistake, Kane got passed me and I couldn’t quite get passed him for the rest of the race,” said Trende.
“The 997 Cup Class win was good; it’s obviously a lot better to win the race though so we’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
Terry Knight finished fifth, ahead of Roger Lago, Ivan Klasan, John Morriss, John Modystach and Phil Morriss, while debutant Steve Grove was pleased with 16th in his maiden race.
GT3 Cup Challenge will hold two 10-lap races tomorrow.
