Nick Percat and Rodney Jane have taken first blood in the opening Carrera Cup race at the Porsche Rennsport Festival of Motor Racing meeting at Sydney Motorsport Park.
In a thrilling finish Percat pounced on leader Adam Gowans with seconds remaining in the one-hour shared driver meeting which doubles as round three of the Australian Carrera Cup Championship.
Luke Youlden crossed the line in third place in the #8 Permagard Automotive car he commandeered with Max Twigg.
It was a landmark win for Jane, who become the first Elite class driver to win a Carrera Cup Championship race in his 150th start in the category in the #222 Coates Hire Racing machine.
Gowans was handed the lead when he jumped in after a perfect opening stint by Shae Davies with the pair dominating all but the remaining seconds of the race. Under the rules there is a mandatory pit stop for a driver change where cars need to be stationary for a minimum of 45 seconds.
Geoff Emery, who took over from Warren Luff during the mandatory pitstop, was fourth in the No Second Chance #7 machine ahead of Troy Bayliss, who brought home the #29 Ausdrill Onsite Racing Porsche in fifth after Michael Patrizi started the race. Luff and Emery had been running strongly in second place for most of the race but were hampered by an engine misfire.
Polesitter James Koundouris lost out at the start, falling back to ninth in the early stages. Then compounding the slow start, Koundouris lost the front splitter, severely compromising his front-end grip.
Koundouris was the first called in for the mandatory pitstop when the window opened between 25-35 minutes with Steve Owen taking charge of the #47 Supabarn Supermarkets Cup car before taking ninth.
Starting 12th Kiwi John Penny did a solid job in his stint before handing over to Championship leader Craig Baird.
The crack Porsche driver then began a rear-guard attack making up many places to eventually finish seventh and limit the impact to his points lead.
Drivetrain issues forced the #24 Pure Energy/N2U car which started third at the hands of Alex Davison to retire inside the last 10 minutes when Tony Bates was forced to pull the machine off the circuit.
Result: Carrera Cup Race 1
| 1 | N.Percat/R.Jane | Coates Hire Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:00:52.7371 |
| 2 | S.Davies/A.Gowans | Team Kiwi Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:00:54.5667 |
| 3 | M.Twigg/L.Youlden | Permagard Automotive | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:00:56.2867 |
| 4 | W.Luff/G.Emery | No Second Chance | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:01:00.2507 |
| 5 | M.Patrizi/T.Bayliss | Ausdrill – Onsite Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:01:02.1750 |
| 6 | S.Richards/T.Koundouris | Laser Plumbing & Electrical | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:01:05.8371 |
| 7 | C.Baird/J.Penny | Jet Travel Insurance | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:01:15.7015 |
| 8 | D.Flack/D.Wall | Rosche Visper | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:01:24.4197 |
| 9 | J.Koundouris/S.Owen | Supabarn Supermarkets | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:01:24.6827 |
| 10 | S.Grove/E.Bamber | Grove Group | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:01:46.8601 |
| 11 | M.Cini/T.Slade | Hallmarc | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:01:48.2629 |
| 12 | D.Padayachee/J.Bobik | Team BRM / Rentcorp Property | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:01:50.6317 |
| 13 | M.Kingsley/J.Goodacre | Action Tyres and More | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:01:55.5478 |
| 14 | S.Smollen/D.Russell | McGrath Estate Agents | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:01:57.7842 |
| 15 | J.Bergmuller/D.Wood | Porsche Centre Brighton | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:02:00.7485 |
| 16 | M.Loccisano/J.Reid | Hallmarc | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:02:02.8636 |
| 17 | T.Walls/J.Davison | Objective Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:02:03.0983 |
| 18 | R.Muscat/S.Middleton | GT3 Factory / Wrap My Ride | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:02:20.2752 |
| 19 | A.Jones/X.West | Malibu Boats | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:01:03.1760 |
| 20 | R.Gracie/P.Hill | Fujitsu Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 01:01:33.1508 |
| DNF | T.Bates/A.Davison | Pure Energy/ N2U | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | 51:43.2123 |
