Wall and Shahin Fastest in Eventful Darwin Practice
Wall, Shahin fastest in eventful opening day
Carrera Cup begins round four under Darwin sun
David Wall has set the pace in Friday practice at Hidden Valley Raceway in his bid to chase down series points leader Andre Heimgartner, who had a horrid start to his Darwin campaign. Meanwhile, Sam Shahin was the best of the TAG Heuer Carrera Challenge drivers in his maiden Carrera Cup event as a single-driver entry.
After taking his first ever outright round victory at last month’s Phillip Island Pro-Am, Wall sits just 10 points behind Heimgartner in the standings. And while Wall had an impressive Friday, taking the top time of the day, Heimgartner suffered a different fortune.
Seven laps into practice one, Heimgartner spun at the exit of turn one, making contact with the inside concrete wall and heavily damaging his #777 911 GT3 Cup car. The New Zealander’s day ended prematurely, however his team is expecting to get the car on track by Saturday morning’s qualifying.
Wall’s best overall time of 1:08.2685, posted in practice one, was the quickest of the day, closely followed by practice two pacesetter and six-time Darwin race winner Alex Davison just 0.17secs behind.
“It was a very good day for us. I was pretty happy with my car here last year and we’ve learnt a little more since last year so we brought a car with a similar set-up to last year with some small tweaks and it was great. I’m looking forward to putting on new tyres and getting qualifying underway tomorrow,” said Wall.
McBride was third fastest from Heimgartner, Dylan O’Keeffe, Jaxon Evans, Michael Almond, James Abela and Cameron McConville in ninth.
After finishing on the Challenge class podium on debut at Phillip Island, Shahin posted the best time in the class across the two Friday practice sessions.
“I’m absolutely stoked with my pace. My aim today was to be safe and work up some speed during the day but the car felt fantastic on old tyres. It was damn hot in that sessions but the car behaved and, other than a small spin in that last lap, it was a terrific day,” said Shahin.
“I wasn’t expecting to be anywhere near the other two experienced Challenge guys so hopefully it will be close and exciting racing tomorrow.”
Tim Miles was 11th quickest across the two Friday sessions from Stephen Grove and Simon Ellingham.
Porsche Carrera Cup Australia will hold its qualifying and opening race on Saturday, followed by two races on Sunday. All four sessions will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 506.
Race Schedule
Saturday June 17
10:20am Qualifying (25 minutes)
1:00pm Race 1 (25 laps)
Sunday June 18
12:20pm Race 2 (18 laps)
3:25pm Race 3 (18 laps)
Broadcast Schedule
Channel: Fox Sports 506
Qualifying – 10:20am, Saturday June 17
Race 1 – 1:00pm, Saturday June 17
Race 2 – 12:20pm, Sunday June 18
Race 3 – 3:25pm, Sunday June 18
Combined Practice Results (Practice 1 & 2)
1. #38 David Wall (Outright) PAYCE/Wilson Security – 1:08.2685*
2. #888 Alex Davison (Outright) President Limo Australia – 1:08.4461s
3. #77 Nick McBride (Outright) Sonic/Bob Jane T-Marts – 1:08.4699s
4. #777 Andre Heimgartner (Outright) Bob Jane T-Marts/Money Now – 1:08.4759s
5. #88 Dylan O’Keeffe (Outright) APB Group/President Limo Australia – 1:08.5961s
6. #7 Jaxon Evans (Outright) Hungry Jacks – 1:08.7470s
7. #6 Michael Almond (Outright) Repair Management Australia – 1:08.8256s
8. #136 James Abela (Outright) Horsley Park Gun Shop – 1:08.9593s
9. #5 Cameron McConville (Outright) Repair Management Australia – 1:08.9830s
10. #13 Sam Shahin (TAG Heuer Carrera Challenge) HTFU – 1:09.4463s
11. #70 Tim Miles (TAG Heuer Carrera Challenge) Miles Advisory Partners – 1:09.6079s
12. #4 Stephen Grove (TAG Heuer Carrera Challenge) Grove Group – 1:09.8883s
13. #33 Simon Ellingham (Outright) Peak Marketing – 1:10.0452s
Sources: Daniel Jordan/Porsche Cars Australia PR