Last year’s Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Champion Harri Jones stood on the Monaco podium at the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup first round on the weekend.

Driving a BWT Lechner Racing Porsche 992 GT3 Cup Car, he placed ninth overall and third of the rookies to stand on the final step of the dais.

It was Jones’ second-straight podium appearance in international competition. He finished as top rookie driver in the opening round of Porsche Carrera Cup Germany at Spa-Francorchamps a few weeks earlier.

From 12th on the grid for the first race, one second off the pole time, he dropped two places after the start. He came back up the order to tenth before a move through Beau Rivage on Dutch veteran Jaap van Lagen secured the Aussie ninth place.

The race was won by Jones’ BWT Lechner Racing teammate, Harry King, who beat two-time champion Larry ten Voorde into turn one from second on the grid and was never headed. Bastian Buus, Jones’ other Lechner teammate, was third.

“It was an awesome race,” Jones said. “I’m really happy with the result. We could have fought further forward if we had a few more laps, but the Safety Car came out towards the end, and we ended up finishing behind it.

“The Lechner Racing Team gave me a really good car this weekend. They ended up finishing P1 outright and P3, so they had a double podium so I’m really proud of the team and looking forward to round two at the Red Bull Ring.”

Jones embarked on his European career after he won the 2019 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, the 2022 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia title, and represented Australia in the Porsche junior shootout.

The next round of Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will be as a support category at the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring on July 7-9.

Meanwhile the next two rounds of the German championship will be at Hockenheim (June 9-11) and Zandvoort in the Netherlands on June 23-25.