The Bend Porsche Carrera Cup Round 2

Published on the 10th of May 2021 by McElrea Racing

We have a great history at the South Australian circuit with many podiums since we first started racing here in 2018 and had a successful test here a few weeks ago, so felt well prepared for a great weekend.

Harri Jones

2nd, 2nd, 2nd - Porsche Carrera Cup 'Pro Class'

Harri had a challenging qualifying session and was disappointed with 8th. His weekend got better in race 1 after skilfully dodging a few bullets in the first lap pile up, he drove up to a well-deserved 2nd place.

In race 2 he got away well and pressured Hill for the whole race to take another 2nd only 2/tenths of a second behind Hill. In race 3 coped well with pressure from Wall behind until he broke away to take his third 2nd to top-off an awesome weekend.

Cooper Murray

DNF, 9th, 4th - Porsche Carrera Cup 'Pro Class'

Cooper did a great job to qualify in 2nd on the outside of the front row.

In the wet race 1 he took the lead and headed the field until the safety car pulled off the track and he was hit from behind by a spinning car causing significant damage and taking him out of the race.

In race 2 he worked his way from near the rear of the grid up to 9th. In race 3 he started on row 4 and did an exceptional job to carve through the field to 4th and take the fastest race lap.

Christian Pancione

11th, 11th, 9th - Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge 'Pro Class'

Christian qualified 13th in his first Carrera Cup race at The Bend. In the chaotic wet race 1 he carved through the carnage to take 11th in the shortened race.

In race 2 he had some great wheel to wheel racing including a hearty dice with team mate Jackson. In race 3 he had another solid race and made a couple of places to finish 9th less than half a second behind former Bathurst champ, Youlden.

Jackson Walls

8th, 10th, 11th - Porsche Carrera Cup 'Pro Class'

Jackson qualified 11th. He did a top job to avoid the race 1 carnage by taking to the grass in the heavy rain spray, to avoid spinning cars finishing 8th.

In race 2 he had some energetic dices, including a tussle with teammate Christian eventually prevailing with a bold move in the closing laps. He was pushing hard again in race 3 but had a slightly less robust race than the first two, to finish 11th while learning to adapt from his single seater driving technique.

Tim Miles

DNF, 4th, 6th - Porsche Carrera Cup 'Pro-Am Class'

Tim qualified 5th in Pro-Am. In race 1 he was one of the victims in the wet front straight pile up when he was hit from behind by a spinning car causing race ending damage.

In race 2, despite dealing with a lively car set up, he had a far better run getting through the Pro-Am traffic take 4th. In race 3 Tim was confident of a podium finish but was held up by the antics of other drivers in the early stages costing him the track position needed to go forward.

Summary

It's always satisfying when our drivers get podium finishes and take home well earned trophies. Harri did a stunning job in all three races to take a very well deserved second for the weekend and make up plenty of places in the championship hunt. Cooper being hit from behind while leading race 1 in the rain was absolutely gut-wrenching as he thoroughly deserved to be on the podium with Harri as illustrated by his fastest lap of the race in race 3.

Our developing Pro drivers Christian and Jackson, both drove very intelligent races (including racing hard against each other!) and learning plenty more about this intensely competitive category.

Like Cooper, Tim’s weekend was de-railed when he was the victim of someone else’s crash in race 1, but he will be ready to rumble when we return at Townsville in early July.

Many thanks to the #AMRC (awesome MR crew) Lethal Leigh, Hayden and the supercoach Luffy for another superb effort getting our cars and drivers ready to win.