A sublime performance from Aaron Love saw him claim the opening race of the 2022 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia at Bathurst.
In treacherous conditions, the Sonic Motor Racing driver took the chequered flag in the 399th Porsche Carrera Cup Australia race from Max Vidau and RAM Motorsport’s Dylan O’Keeffe.
The race commenced under Safety Car with concerns for standing water in the vicinity of The Chase.
The Green Flag waved on Lap 4, with Love, leading the way from O’Keeffe, Dale Wood, points leader Harri Jones, Vidau, Christian Pancione, Jackson Walls, Nick McBride, and Simon Fallon.
Fallon moved up three spots on the first flying lap to sixth on the first flying lap, with David Russell also moving up three spots into seventh.
Love surged to a lead of over seven seconds on Lap 6, as Vidau moved past Jones into fourth.
The only major incident of the race was caused when both Scott Taylor and Marc Cini spun at the chase, the pair two of several drivers caught out by the rivers of water running across the entry to The Chase.
While Taylor was able to proceed without delay, Cini was stuck just long enough to force race control to deploy the Safety Car, before he was able to recover.
It bunched the field together after Love had surged to a nine-second lead.
The race resumed on Lap 10, with Love leading the way, from O’Keeffe, Vidau, Wood, and Russell.
Shortly after the re-start, a hard-charging Vidau got through on O’Keeffe to move into second.
A time-certain finish saw the race end on Lap 12, with Love crossing the line first to claim his ninth career win, ahead of Vidau, and O’Keeffe.
Jones recovered to finish fourth, with Wood crossing the line in fifth.
Russell, Fallon, Hedge, Walls, and Pancione rounded out the top 10.
The Morris Finance Pro-Am class win went to Liam Talbot, who pulled off a mid-race pass on class leader Geoff Emery, with Adrian Flack completing the class podium.
Porsche Carrera Cup Australia returns to the track tomorrow for Race 2 at 15:20 local time/AEDT.
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