Kane Rose has overcome early challenges from Jeff Bobik and Fraser Ross to record his fifth win of the 2012 Porsche Staff Solutions GT3 Cup Challenge at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Pole-sitter Rose fell to third off the start, but retook the lead from Bobik on the fourth of 10 laps.
Rose was hardly challenged for the remainder as he pulled away to an eventual 2.5s victory over Ross.
Bobik secured third ahead of Brent Odgers, John Goodacre, John Modystach, Michael Almond, John Morriss, Anthony Skinner and Jon Trende.
The results see Rose extend his lead over Modystach to an imposing 64 points.
“The car is set up really well and I was just out there trying to stay out of trouble,” said Rose.
“We’re not that far ahead of the other drivers, it’s just that different people are fast in different stages of the race.
“We just tried to stay out of trouble, stay clean and remain in front of the other guys.”
The Australian GT Championship, F3 Australian Drivers’ Championship, Radical Australia Cup and Swift Racing Series also had their first races for the weekend at the Shannons Nationals presented by Hi-Tec Oils event today.
CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s AGTC Race 1 report
CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s F3 ADC Race 1 report
Neale Muston scored victory in the Radicals, taking the lead from Richard Bloomfield in the closing stages after losing ground with a mid-race spin.
Bloomfield held on for second ahead of Nic Stavropoulos, Glyn Edis and Simon Haggarty.
It was Reece Murphy that triumphed in the Swifts – the Queenslander greeting the flag less than one second ahead of second-placed Damian Ward.
The day was completed by qualifying for the Kerrick Sports Sedans, where Tony Ricciardello out-gunned fellow former series champions Darren Hossack, Kerry Baily and Des Wall to score the pole position. The category will hold three races tomorrow.
