The opening day of the 2018 Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia season has been spent by the series’ 26 drivers learning Australia’s newest motor racing circuit, The Bend Motorsport Park.
The series has entered a new era with the introduction of the first generation 991 series 911 GT3 Cup cars, which were previously used across the past four seasons of Carrera Cup competition. For the season opener, 19 of the 26 cars in GT3 Cup Challenge are campaigning the newly-introduced model, with times drastically falling as drivers became familiar with the 4.95km layout.
One driver who entered the season most familiar with The Bend Motorsport Park was track founder and the series’ Pro-Am pacesetter Sam Shahin, who was relieved to finally get on track after the lengthy development phase of the circuit. Shahin was seventh fastest outright and the best of the 12-car Pro-Am field from Brett Boulton and Danny Stutterd.
“I’m absolutely thrilled, really. It’s more shear relief than happiness at the moment. I set the bar very high for myself and all the pressure is self-inflicted. I’m still pinching myself even in the car driving around and enjoying this wonderful scenery here and everybody having a beautiful smile on their face. It’s epic.”
The series’ young rookies were the best in Friday practice, with 16-year-old Cooper Murray posting the best time of the day of 1:54.4382, narrowly ahead of fellow Pro ranked drivers
Jimmy Vernon, Max Vidau, Luis Leeds and Simon Fallon.
“We had great pace today,” said Murray. “I’ve been working a lot with the team behind the scenes and I’ve been studying the track ahead of this weekend. The car is awesome to drive and the circuit is world class, so I’m really looking forward to this weekend.”
Christian Pancione and Tom Taplin were the standout Class B drivers, posting the 10th and 12th best times of the two Friday sessions in their second generation 997 series 911 GT3 Cup race cars.
Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia will hold its first qualifying session of the season on Saturday morning before a 50-minute long-distance race one on Saturday afternoon. Sunday will then feature two 20-minute races, both of which can be viewed via a live stream on the Shannons Nationals website – thenationals.com.au.
Race Schedule
Saturday April 14, 2018
10:00am Qualifying (20mins)
3:30pm Race 1 (50 minutes, laps TBC)
Sunday April 15, 2018
9:00am Race 2 (20 minutes, laps TBC)
1:30pm Race 3 (20 minutes, laps TBC)
Results: Combined Practice 1 & 2
1. #36 Cooper Murray (Pro) Lodge Bros Racing – 1:54.4382
2. #7 Jimmy Vernon (Pro) McElrea Racing – 1:54.7818 (0:00.3436)
3. #77 Max Vidau (Pro) Sonic / Bob Jane T Marts – 1:55.2638 (0:00.8256)
4. #230 Luis Leeds (Pro) OPSGateway – 1:55.2938 (0:00.8556)
5. #96 Simon Fallon (Pro) Sonic Motor Racing – 1:55.8688 (0:01.4306)
6. #2 Dan Day (Pro) Tectaloy UNLMTD Racing – 1:56.3928 (0:01.9546)
7. #13 Sam Shahin (Pro-Am) The Bend /htfu – 1:57.1409 (0:02.7027)
8. #38 Chelsea Angelo (Pro) PAYCE/Wilson Security – 1:57.3177 (0:02.8795)
9. #84 Brett Boulton (Pro-Am) Bold Living – 1:57.6076 (0:03.1694)
10. #76 Christian Pancione (Class B) VCM Performance – 1:58.0871 (0:03.6489)
11. #23 Daniel Stutterd (Pro-Am) The Porsche Broker – 1:58.4676 (0:04.0294)
12. #26 Tom Taplin (Class B) Taplin Real Estate – 1:59.5627 (0:05.1245)
13. #73 Michael Hovey (Pro-Am) Triffid Bar & Venue – 1:59.9740 (0:05.5358)
14. #17 Marcel Zalloua (Pro-Am) 360 Motorsport/Valmont – 2:00.1101 (0:05.6719)
15. #65 Ben Stack (Pro-Am) DNA Racing – 2:00.9567 (0:06.5185)
16. #222 Scott Taylor (Pro-Am) Scott Taylor Motorsport – 2:01.1168 (0:06.6786)
17. #21 Shane Barwood (Pro-Am) Melbourne Orthopaedic Group – 2:01.4065 (0:06.9683)
18. #29 Rob Woods (Pro-Am) Platinum Night Club Broadbeach – 2:01.6233 (0:07.1851)
19. #131 Graham Williams (Pro-Am) Sonic / Williams Racing – 2:01.7359 (0:07.2977)
20. #10 Michael Loccisano (Pro-Am) Hallmarc – 2:02.4843 (0:08.0461)
21. #88 Phil Morriss (Class B) Morriss Racing Services – 2:02.9412 (0:08.5030)
22. #57 Richard Bloomfield (Class B) Okey Dokey – 2:02.9417 (0:08.5035)
23. #22 Andrew Goldie (Class B) Woodford Trailers – 2:02.9596 (0:08.5214)
24. #91 Emanuel Palyaris (Class B) TBC – 2:03.9384 (0:09.5002)
25. #99 Ross McGregor (Pro-Am) Southern Star Windows – 2:04.1020 (0:09.6638)
26. #50 Adrian Lengkeek (Class B) Wall Racing/JBA Carpet Court/F – 2:11.2761 (0:16.8379)