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Dylan O’Keeffe has won the opening race of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship at Sandown International Motor Raceway.
The RAM Motorsport driver capitalised from wheelspin for pole-sitter Aaron Love to take his first race win of the year and the second of his Carrera Cup career.
After securing the lead of the race on the run to Turn 1, O’Keeffe managed the gap to the Sonic Motor Racing driver throughout the 18 lap encounter to take the chequered flag first, as well as the lap record with a 1:09.0541s.
Max Vidau (TekworkX Motorsport), who qualified third, fought with Love early in the race for second, before maintaining his position to seal a podium finish.
It was an action-packed start to the race, as competitors jostled for position on the opening lap, with points leader Harri Jones (McElrea Racing) moving up three spots in a crucial charge in an attempt to salvage as many points as possible, after he qualified eighth.
As the field settled, it became apparent quickly that the lap record would be obliterated, with Love posting several laps early in the piece that were well under the previous record.
O’Keeffe responded to his pace, setting personal best laps to maintain his gap at the head of the field, before going onto break the lap record on Lap 12.
A crucial moment in the race arrived on Lap 8, when championship contender David Wall (Wall Racing), grabbed a brake, forcing Nick McBride to take evasive action, as Callum Hedge (Earl Bamber Motorsport), and Luke Youlden (TechworkX Motorsport) capitalised on the moment to move up through the field.
There were a couple of spins towards the end of the race, with Duvashen Padayachee spinning on Lap 11, after double hopping of the Turn 2 kerb, while Jackson Walls (McElrea Racing), who had made up several spots earlier in the piece, found the fence near the exit kerb at Turn 4 a few laps from end.
It was a largely processional run to the finish from there with O’Keeffe winning from Love, and Vidau.
Simon Fallon (Sonic Motor Racing) continued his impressive run of form to finish a credible fourth, while Jones salvaged his championship lead with a fifth place finish.
Dale Wood (Timken Racing), Christian Pancione (VCM Performance), Angelo Mouzouris (Sonic Motor Racing), finished sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively.
In his 50th round start David Russell (EMA Motorsport) finished ninth, while Wall rounded out the top 10.
Geoff Emery (1:16.8399s) claimed the Pro-Am class win, with Dean Cook (Zonzo Racing), and Adrian Flack (AGAS National Racing) wrapping up the class podium.
The lap record was broken repeatedly throughout the race, with the top 18 finishers lapping under the previous record of 1:10.2899s.
Race 2 for Carrera Cup will take place tomorrow at 09:20 AEST.
