The support categories at Bathurst, namely Porsches, Toyotas and SuperUtes were the prelude to the Bathurst 1000.
PORSCHE PAYNTER DIXON CARRERA CUP AUSTRALIA
Englishman Harry King won the third race of Round 5 and capped off his debut on the mountain with three wins, the round victory, and a new lap record.
The EMA Motorsport driver raced with Jones Motorsport’s Harri Jones and his inside run through the corner enabled him to take the lead, one he would hold throughout the nine laps. He also clean swept in the Equity One Pro driver class.
Jones raced with New Zealander Chris van der Drift up to Griffins Bend where he was able to grab second and the trio pulled away from the field.
Behind the latter in fourth place was Jackson Walls (McElrea Racing), Max Vidau (TekworkX Motorsport) who survived a scrape with a concrete wall, Dylan O’Keeffe (Garth Walden Racing) and Simon Fallon (Sonic Racing).
Walls has reduced the deficit to the absent championship leader Callum Hedge who now is less than 10 points in front with two rounds remaining.
Liam Talbot had his third victory in the SP Tools Pro-Am class with Adrian Flack second and Matt Belford third. He was third early, behind the pair before he was able to pick them off.
TOYOTA GAZOO RACING AUSTRALIA 86 SERIES
The final race of the season at Round 5 was won by Cody Burcher ahead of Speedcafe-supported driver Ryan Casha who won the series. In a tight tussle for third, Clay Richards finished ahead of Reuben Goodall, Jarrod Hughes and Matt Hillyer.
Bucher was able to edge ahead of Casha off the start led for the first three laps. Casha looked a couple of times on Conrod Straight to slip his way past and made the move stick on the fourth of the six-lap race. On the last lap Bucher was able to pull a similar move to regain the lead and win.
Hillyer was close behind in third earlier, in front of Richards, Goodall, Brock Stinson, Jimmy Holdsworth and Hughes. Goodall ultimately headed the group but in the end Richards snared third. Hughes came in right behind and just ahead of Hillyer.
Stinson dropped out of the group and was in with the next lot when he crashed at the Cutting on the last lap. Max Geoghegan emerged seventh ahead of Jack Westbury, Lachlan Bloxsom, Jayden Wanzek and Holdsworth. Wanzek received a post-race penalty and relegated to 15th.
V8 SUPERUTES SERIES
Aaron Borg took his Isuzu D-MAX to win the final race to ensure he won the Round 5 and consolidate the series lead by seven points over Adam Marjoram (Mitsubishi Triton) with a further 29 points to Ryal Harris (Ford Ranger).
Harris was the best away in the fourth race of the penultimate round and led from Marjoram, Borg, George Gutierrez (Holden Colorado), Jimmy Vernon (Mitsubishi Triton) and Adrian Cottrell (Colorado) while David Seiders (Mazda BT-50) failed to get away until after everyone else.
Borg picked off Marjoram on the second lap as Vernon slipped by Gutierrez. A lap later Borg made the successful move for the lead, one he would hold when the Safety Car emerged after Jensen Engelhardt (Toyota Hilux) crashed out of McPhillamy Park.
The race finished without going green with Vernon fourth ahead of Cottrell, Gutierrez, David Casey (D-MAX), Jaiden Maggs (Triton), Holly Espray (D-MAX) and Ben Walsh (Hilux).