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Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia Series
Ryan Wood and Thomas Sargent picked up a win apiece on the first day of racing for Round 4 of the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia Series.
Wood took the chequered flag in Race 1, ahead of Sargent, with Lachlan Bloxsolm in third.
Aron Shields was fourth, with Harrison Goodman in fifth.
Jason Miller, Courtney Price, and Madeline Stewart rounded out the running order in the Pro Class.
In the Morris Finance Pro-Am Class, Brett Boulton took the win over Andrew Goldie, and David Grieg.
In Class B, Brad Carr picked up the victory over Lachlan Harburg, with Nathan Sticklen in third.
In the 22-lap Endurance Trophy Race, Sargent bolted from second to grab an early lead before holding off Wood in a furious battle throughout the first 11 laps.
A mid-race Safety Car halted the battle after Courtney Prince attempted a dive down the inside of Aron Shields in the battle for fourth/fifth place, firing off into the gravel trap at Turn 1.
A potentially series-changing moment occurred following the Safety Car, with Wood’s car dramatically slowing due to fuel pressure issues, forcing the young Kiwi out of the race.
Sargent took the chequered flag ahead of Shields, while Bloxsolm finished third after being swamped following the Safety Car restart.
Tom McLennan was fourth, Stewart in fifth, while Miller, who had held third until the closing stages, dropped back to sixth.
Goodman finished ahead of the Pro-Am Class podium of Boulton, Goldie, and Pan Boyaci in rounding out the top 10.
Harburg claimed Class B ahead of Sticklen, after Carr spun off in the Endurance Trophy encounter.
The Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia Series will conclude tomorrow with Race 3 at 11:10 local time/11:40 AEDT.
Australian Production Car Series
Wayne, Drew, and Aaren Russell clean-swept the opening two races for the Australian Production Car Series brought to you by Liqui Moly.
In Race 1, the Russells took the chequered flag in Race 1 from Class A2 winners Nathan Callaghan/Chris Lillis in their HSV Clubsport, with Shane Smollen and Rob Rubis third in their Class X BMW M4.
It was a wild start to the race, with a Safety Car called on the first lap after Grant Sherrin spun, resulting in Wayne Russell, Rob Rubis, and Steve Jukes taking evasive action.
All cars involved recovered to continue the race.
From there it was a relatively trouble-free run for the balance of the 60-minute encounter.
Darren Forrest was fourth in his Class A2 HSV VF R8, with Jukes/Karl Begg crossing the line fifth in their Class X BMW F80 M3.
Class A1 title contenders Jimmy Vernon/Dean Campbell finished sixth outright in their Mitsubishi Evo X, while Grant Sherrin, who had recovered to second position at the halfway mark of the race, finished seventh after his Class X BMW M4 experienced a flat tyre.
Class C winner Jake Camilleri was eighth in his Mazda 3 MPS, with Zoe Woods/Daniel Jilesen in their Hyundai i30N, and Chris Gunther/Mitchell Randall in their Class C BMW 130i completing the top 10.
The sole competitors in their respective classes, Allan Jarvis in his Class E finished 12th, while Suzuki Swift Amar Sharma/Daniel Natoli in their Class D Ford Fiesta finished last as a result of power issues.
Drew and Wayne Russell made it back-to-back wins in an action-packed Race 2, crossing the line ahead of Class A1 winner Vernon, with Class A2 victors Lillis/Callaghan in third.
Class A2 competitor Paul Razum was fourth, with Class C winners Woods/Jilesen in fifth.
Camilleri, Gunther/Randall, and Iain Sherrin finished sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively, while Class D’s Sharma/Natoli, and Class E’s Jarvis rounded out the finishers.
At the drop of the green flag, Iain Sherrin led the way from Smollen, Begg, Callaghan, and Wayne Russell.
The Safety Car was brought out on Lap 5 after, after heavy contact between Begg and Smollen, with a brake pedal failure in Begg’s car, resulting in both entries ending up in the gravel trap at Turn 18.
Earlier in the race Begg had briefly led proceedings, before battling with Smollen for second and third at the time of the incident.
When the race resumed on Lap 10, Iain Sherrin was leading the race from Callaghan, with Wayne Russell on the attack.
After stepping into the #58 Drew Russell set the fastest lap of the race on Lap 14 with a 2:05.5800s, moving down the inside of Iain Sherrin for the lead on Lap 15.
Prior to that, the M4 of Sherrin had led the majority of the race before a front right tyre failure brought his race to an early end.
Also running into trouble late in the race was the Chris Holdt entry, which was forced to retire with 11 minutes to go when it went into limp mode.
The Australian Production Car Series returns to the track tomorrow for Race 3 at 08:15 local time/08:45 AEDT.
GT World Challenge Australia
A last lap pass saw Broc Feeney and Prince Jefri Ibrahim take the chequered flag in Race 1 for Round 5 of the GT World Challenge Australia Series.
Earlier in the day, the Triple Eight Race Engineering pairing claimed pole position for the two 60-minute races.
Ibrahim lapped a 1:47.7948s in Qualifying 1, while Feeney blasted a 1:45.5927s in Qualifying 2 to seal pole position for the #888 Mercedes AMG GT3 for both 60-minute races.
Race 1 was marred by an incident on the opening lap that saw series leader Yasser Shahin spun around by Ibrahim at Turn 1, resulting in a 15-second penalty for the #888 Mercedes-AMG GT3 at the pit stop.
A close battle ensued between title contenders Ibrahim and Liam Talbot, with the latter finding a way through into the lead, before building an eight-second advantage before the compulsory stops.
Talbot handed Fraser Ross a comfortable lead before the two Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes-AMG GT3s launched an assault for the lead, as the clock ticked down.
Taking the title fight into consideration, seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup swapped positions with Feeney as Ibrahim closed the points gap to Shahin in the series standings.
The Supercars Championship rookie went onto pass Ross at Turn 1 on the final lap to seal the victory.
A third-place finish for Whincup resulted in a debut podium appearance for Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim.
In the Am Class, Ross Poulakis picked up the victory in his Mercedes-AMG GT3, while Sergio Pires and Marcel Zalloua claimed the GT Trophy win on debut.
Mark Griffith and Nash Morris took out GT4 Class ahead of Christos Batzios and Sam Brabham.
GTWC Australia returns to the track tomorrow for Race 2 at 12:55 local time/13:25 AEDT.
