Walsh withstands van der Linde for maiden GT win

Ash Walsh fended off factory Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde to take out the opening race in Round 2 of the Australian GT Championship at Albert Park.

While the two Audis finished one-two, another came to grief after the chequered flag when Ash Samadi’s R8 turned hard right and headlong into the wall at the end of the main straight.

Walsh got a better launch than pole-sitter van der Linde and the Infant’s Friend entry exited the first corner in the lead.

Van der Linde slotted into second, staying ahead of David Russell despite the JBS Lamborghini driver arguably making the strongest start.

The top two ran within a second before Walsh pulled away on Lap 9 and again on the Lap 11, the final lap, for his first win in the championship.

Van der Linde finished 2.1s behind for Jamec Pem, while Russell faded to a distant third after initially going with the Audis.

Daniel Gaunt and Dean Fiore made for four R8s in the top five, ahead of Glen Wood in a Lamborghini.

The top six ran unchanged throughout a somewhat processional 25-minute journey, while Lewis Williamson in the Tekno McLaren finally found a way past Steven Richards on the penultimate lap to claim seventh.

Cameron McConville then threatened the #100 BMW but had to settle for ninth in the Zagame Lamborghini, while Benny Simonsen completed the top 10 in a Ferrari 458.

The race ended in drama when Samadi hit the concrete wall head-on after an apparent failure in car #3.

Samadi had made contact with Ivan Capelli on the opening lap, the former’s left-rear corner coming across the latter’s right-front and pulling bodywork off the Trofeo Motorsport Lamborghini.

Samadi had crossed the line 17th, and would extricate himself from his crashed car, while the former Ferrari Formula 1 driver persevered on his way to 15th.

Race 2 for the lower-ranked drivers in the respective cars will be held tomorrow from 10:45 AEDT.

Results: Race 1, Round 2, Albert Park