Dale Wood has continued his perfect start to the second round of the Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia championship at Albert Park by taking a dominant race two win, while Liam Talbot was again the best of the TAG Heuer Pro-Am drivers.
Following his narrow race one win over Dylan O’Keeffe, Wood’s race two performance was more dominant. The Melbourne racer again led into the opening corner, though this time was followed by his teammate Jordan Love. O’Keeffe was third after the start though soon pulled off the circuit after sustaining damage to the front bodywork and radiator of his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
Wood pulled away from the field to claim victory by just under two seconds from Love, who was the leading Michelin Junior for the second race in a row. Importantly, Love is leading the Michelin Junior points for the Michelin Super Round, which will see the leading Junior driver for the round be sent to the FIA Formula E Berlin E-Prix in May.
“That’s two from two – a pole and two race wins,” said Wood. “I’m not happy with my starts at the moment, they’re probably the one thing that need a bit of tuning up. I’ve got to go home and work on those and come back and get a good start so we can do the same thing tomorrow.
“You’ve really got to break that tow in the race; while they’re close enough to be in that slipstream it keeps them in the game and as soon as I felt like I could break that, then I thought I was safe. We had a really good car, so we were able to race away and put down some good laps. I’m very happy with that one.”
Warren Luff placed third in what was his best result this season after closing in on Love in the final laps. Cameron Hill was the second best of the Michelin Junior drivers in fourth from young rookie Thomas Maxwell, who placed a season-high of fifth in the 10-lap race from David Wall, Duvashen Padayachee, Cooper Murray, Josh Hunt and Nick McBride in 10th.
The fight at the front of the TAG Heuer Pro-Am saw Talbot compete with Sam Shahin for class honours. While Shahin remained within striking distance for the majority of the race, Talbot capitalised on Pro drivers charging through the field to establish a substantial margin in the closing laps to ultimately take a comfortable race win.
“I’m really happy with the result and I obviously had to work hard for it. I had a bit of contact early on in the race and had to really attack to get my position back. The team have given me a good car and really exciting to be here at Albert Park,” said Talbot.
Shahin finished second from Tim Miles and Anthony Gilbertson, who claiming fourth position from Stephen Grove after a bold outside move at turn three on the second-to-last lap. Grove placed fifth from Roger Lago and Adrian Flack.
Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia will return on Saturday for race three at 3:20pm, while the final race of the round will be held on Sunday. Both remaining race will be broadcast live across TEN, Fox Sports 506 and Kayo.