After he led throughout the Saturday sprint race, McElrea Racing’s Hall repeated the dose in both the Endurance Cup and the last sprint outing at Round 7 of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup.
Hall looked in complete control across the two races at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, to go one better than his pair of wins on the Gold Coast last year.
Usually seen at the front of the field, Porsche Centre Melbourne Motorsport’s Jones carded with two third places. His lead over TekworkX Motorsport’s David Russell dropped from 210 points to 181.
However there are only 181 points up for grabs at the last round. Even if he scores no points and Russell wins the three races, Jones will take the outright and Equity-One Pro crown on a countback.
It will be confirmed at the Adelaide 500 as Jones’ second Carrera Cup championship and third one-make Porsche title in Australia, as he previously won the Michelin Sprint Challenge crown.
In the meantime Flack secured enough points with a class victory in the Endurance Cup race to become the first two-time Carrera Cup SP Tools Pro-Am champion.
Jones won the 32-lap enduro by 4.9s over Russell. Dylan O’Keeffe (Garth Walden Racing) was third from the start and had Jones and Jackson Walls (McElrea) applying the pressure for the entire race.
O’Keeffe held them off to cross the line third, but a kerb strike penalty took away the shine and he was relegated to sixth place behind Dale Wood (Earl Bamber Motorsport). Six others also received penalties while Fabian Coulthard finished eighth ahead of Nash Morris and Clay Osborne.
Jones was one of several to benefit from a Lap 4, hairpin collision between Walls and Dale Wood. It moved him to fifth as he chased Hall, Russell, O’Keeffe and his teammate Coulthard.
The PCMM pair were able to demote O’Keeffe at mid-distance before they Jones passed Coulthard on the penultimate lap to secure third. Ahead of them Hall was pushed all the way by Russell who couldn’t really offer a serious challenge.
Russell finished second overall for the round as he fought to keep his championship hopes alive while
O’Keeffe was third. Dean Cook secured second in Pro-Am as Matt Slavin finished third.
The final round of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship will be on the streets at the VAILO Adelaide 500 in November.
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