Kiwis Conquer Carrera Cup at Albert Park
Jaxon Evans has avoided opening corner chaos to take victory in race four of Porsche Wilson Security Carrera Cup Australia at Albert Park along with the round win, while Tim Miles secured round victory in the TAG Heuer Pro-Am.
Dale Wood was the star driver for the weekend until the start of the final race, where he and Alex Davison were contacted from behind at the opening corner. The incident spun both Wood and Davison; Wood continued at the rear of the field while the safety car was called to recover Davison’s stranded car from the turn one run-off area.
New Zealander Evans dominated after the restart to eventually cruise to his third win of the Carrera Cup season and further extend his series lead after two of eight rounds.
“To get back-to-back round victories for the first two rounds is obviously the perfect way to kick off the year and show that we’re not here to muck around, but to fight for the championship,” said Evans, who was joined on the Pro round podium by Dale Wood and Jordan Love.
“I was pretty lucky to get away with that one. I can’t thank to team enough for the car they’ve given me this weekend. I struggled to get past Dale in the first three races and it’s unfortunate what happened to him in the last race .”
Dylan O’Keeffe continued his Albert Park comeback after race two dramas to ultimately place second, moving past Love in the closing laps to gain his best result for the season.
Love placed third from David Wall; a fourth in the final race was little consolation for the reigning champion following a race three spin. Nick McBride placed fifth for the final race from James Moffat and Peter Major in seventh for the rookie’s best result for the season.
Stephen Grove placed eighth in the final race, which is the best overall performance by a TAG Heuer Pro-Am driver for the 2018 season. Twigg placed second in class for the final race from Roger Lago, Adrian Flack and Tim Miles in fifth.
Miles ended the weekend as the top TAG Heuer Pro-Am driver, joining his compatriot on the top step of the Albert Park podium on Sunday.
“I got a bit bullied in that last race, which was a bit frustrating. I didn’t have enough pace to fight with them properly and the team were on the radio just telling me to behave and consolidate the round win. I can’t thank the McElrea Racing boys enough, not just for giving me a good car but for keeping me calm.”
Evans now leads the Pro standings by 69 points from Wood; while Wood has more race wins, Evans is yet to finish outside the top two this season. Wall holds third in the Pro standings from O’Keeffe and Love. Evans also retains the Michelin Juniors standings lead from Love and Garwood.
Lago holds the lead of the TAG Heuer Pro-Am standings following his dominant opening round performance from triple champion Twigg, reigning champion Grove and Albert Park round winner Miles.
Porsche Wilson Security Carrera Cup Australia will return on April 22-25 for round three at Phillip Island.
Results: Race 4
1. #7 Jaxon Evans (Pro) 9 laps, 19:57.0
2. #88 Dylan O’Keeffe (Pro) 9 laps, 20:00.5
3. #777 Jordan Love (Pro) 9 laps, 20:04.2
4. #1 David Wall (Pro) 9 laps, 20:04.5
5. #8 Nick McBride (Pro) 9 laps, 20:05.4
6. #18 James Moffat (Pro) 9 laps, 20:06.7
7. #14 Peter Major (Pro) 9 laps, 20:09.4
8. #4 Stephen Grove (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:13.0
9. #15 Josh Hunt (Pro) 9 laps, 20:13.4
10. #80 Max Twigg (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:15.8
11. #100 Dale Wood (Pro) 9 laps, 20:16.5
12. #23 Roger Lago (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:17.6
13. #20 Adrian Flack (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:23.6
14. #6 Tim Miles (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:23.6
15. #12 Adam Garwood (Pro) 9 laps, 20:26.4
16. #22 Dean Cook (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:33.3
17. #19 Anthony Gilbertson (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:34.0
18. #13 Sam Shahin (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 20:38.3
19. #131 Graham Williams (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 21:00.3
20. #35 Indiran Padayachee (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 9 laps, 21:08.7
21. #77 Michael Almond (Pro) 8 laps, 20:22.7
22. #9 Marc Cini (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 8 laps, 22:16.4
DNF #5 Greg Taylor (TAG Heuer Pro-Am) 5 laps, 12:12.1
DNF #888 Alex Davison (Pro)
Sources: Daniel Jordan/Porsche Cars Australia