In the Supercars’ support categories at the VAILO Adelaide 500 besides Super 2/3, titles will go right down to the wire on Sunday.
CARRERA CUP
Just two points separate Jackson Walls and Callum Hedge after Dale Wood won Race 2 of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup final round. Hedge clawed back points by finishing second with Walls fourth behind Max Vidau.
The championship and Equity-One Pro class will be decided, based on who finishes higher in the last race of the season. Meanwhile the SP Tools Pro-Am is also up for grabs although Adrian Flack has a 42 point margin over Dean Cook.
With a copybook start, Earl Bamber Motorsport’s Wood lead from the start and was never seriously challenged. TekworkX Motorsport’s Vidau was another good starter and was able to get ahead of McElrea Racing’s Wall and Alex Davison whilst they were scraping for position.
Ryder Quinn finished in sixth position, ahead of Fabian Coulthard, Dylan O’Keeffe, Angelo Mouzouris and Bayley Hall.
The race finished two laps early due to Matt Belford who had a major shunt at Turn 8. He appeared to touch the inside kerb, which caused him to hit the outside barrier and pirouette four times down the straight, minus the back wheels. After the Safety Car it was a one-lap dash to the flag.
In Pro-Am Shahin was the early leader over Flack and Cook before he dropped behind them to finish third. Tim Miles recovered to fourth after contact at Turn 1 and a spin.
GT CHALLENGE AUSTRALIA
In another tense showdown between the leading protagonists, Liam Talbot and Chris Mies won Race 2 of the Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS, over Yasser Shahin and Matt Campbell.
The Pros started the race and Campbell (Porsche 911 GT3R) led Mies (Audi R8 LMS Evo 2) to the compulsory pitstops. They came in on the same lap, less than 3.0s apart and the Audi , with 3.0s less for its stop, just in front of the Porsche.
Talbot and Shahin raced to the flag, mostly less than a second apart. Max Hofer (Audi) lost touch with the leaders early as he attempted to pass AM driver Paul Stokell (Audi) and handed over to Geoff Emery to finish 19s adrift in third place.
Stokel and Matt Stoupas were fourth outright ahead of Renee Gracie (AM Audi), Mike Bailey/Brett Hobson (Pro AM Mercedes AMG) and Brad Schumacher (AM Audi) who recovered from a spin on the opening lap. Despite a penalty second stop, Marcos Flack (Porsche 991.2) took out Trophy and Invitation honours went to Adam Hargraves (MARC GT).
TOURING CAR MASTERS
It was a pedestrian pace finish for Race 2 of the Gulf Western Oil Touring Car Masters. Joel Heinrich (Chev Camaro) took the honours after he led from the outset. Ryan Hansford (Holden Torana) slipped to fourth in the early stages before he rebounded to third and then passed series leader Steven Johnson (Ford Mustang).
The latter was second and survived slight contact when Andrew Fisher (Torana) attempted a pass at Turn 9. It didn’t work out so well as Fisher cut a tyre and needed to pit. John Bowe (Torana) moved to fourth as a result with Marcus Zukanovic (Ford Falcon XD) immediately behind. There was contact between the two at Turn 9 which spun Bowe.
Bowe was unable to refire the Torana and the Safety Car was deployed. The race was concluded under cautionary conditions as Bowe stopped further along after initially being push started. Zukanovic crossed the line fourth but was handed a 30s penalty that dropped him to 19th.
Jim Pollicina (Torana) took fourth in front of Cameron Tilley (Valiant Pacer), Tony Karanfilovski (Mustang) and the first of the NZ TCMs in Lance Hughes (Torana). Warren Trewin (Holden Monaro) was 11th and first in Pro Sports after Peter Burnitt (Torana) spun.
S5000
The second race in the final round of the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship, and Tasman Cup event, was another win for Aaron Cameron. The race finished behind the Safety Car, the second in an incident-shortened event.
Cameron took the win ahead of his Garry Rogers Motorsport teammate Jordan Boys. After a good start which put him up two spots. Versa Motorsport’s Cooper Webster was able to pass Ben Bargwanna to take third while Blake Prudie was fifth after he started third.
The first Safety Car appeared after Sebastien Amadio had an incident at Turn 3 which came after he tagged the Turn 8 wall on the previous lap. That was where Mark Rosser came to grief after the race resumed and shortened the event as a result. Post race Webster was disqualified for being under the minimum weight limit.
V8 SUPERUTES
From the outset of Race 3, Aaron Borg (Isuzu D-MAX) led for his second victory at the Adelaide 500 in the non-championship Tyrepower V8 SuperUtes round.
At first it was Adam Marjoram (Mitsubishi Triton) that challenged before he was passed by David Sieders (Mazda BT-50). Close on their heels were Toyota Hilux pilots Cody Brewczynski and Craig Woods, Adrian Cottrell (Holden Colorado) and Reuben Goodall (BT-50).
On Lap 4, Woods passed his teammate before the Safety Car came out on Lap 7 (for the duration). Cottrell had side-on contact with the Turn 4 tyre barrier which flipped his Colorado onto its side.
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