BROCK GILCHRIST has charged to his maiden Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia series race win, claiming the Jim Richards Enduro Cup race at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park on a freezing Sunday morning. 

The Team Porsche NZ / EBM driver had to fight his way to the front in the 45-minute race, but survived a pair of Safety Car restarts and a one-lap dash to the flag to become the fifth winner from five races so far this year.

Oscar Targett charged through to second position and Aron Shields raced to third position, while Jacque Jarjo took the Class B win with 10th outright and local Pan Boyaci won the Pro-Am class.

The race commenced in clear but cold conditions with the ambient temperature just three degrees at the start of the race.

Race one winner Clay Osborne made the best start from pole position and led the opening lap before Gilchrist – who ended the first lap in fourth position – pounced on the second lap to take the lead.

A fast-starting Aron Shields then briefly jumped Osborne to second place before the latter was able to re-pass the DNA Autosport driver.

Targett, meanwhile, worked his way into contention as the race continued, passing Osborne to climb to second position on the 17th lap.

Osborne struggled with a broken splitter on his McElrea entry, a pair of restarts costing the Kiwi as the field bunched up and was able to attack the New Zealander who was struggling for front grip.

The first Safety Car was called for an off from Ben Taylor and Caspar Tresidder at turn four, which packed the field up.

Osborne tumbled down the order on the restart with Caleb Sumich, Jake Santalucia and a charging Hamish Fitzsimmons taking the most advantage.

The final Safety Car was called for Ramu Farrell off at turn one, setting up a one-lap dash to the line at the end of the race.

There, Gilchrist held on to grab his race win with Targett second and Shields third.

Caleb Sumich and Jake Santalucia completed the top five, with Hamish Fitzsimmons storming through the field to finish sixth after an immense comeback drive. Tyler Greenbury, Ayrton Hodson, Conor Somers and Class B winner Jacque Jarjo completed the 10.

Osborne eventually finished 11th to salvage championship points while the Pro-Am class went the way of Pan Boyaci – the Rennen Motorsport driver grabbing the victory following the dramas for Farrell and fellow race one contenders, Brett Boulton and Danny Stutterd.

The results set up a thrilling finish to the round with a winner-take-all finale set for Brock Gilchrist and Oscar Targett – the pair split by just one point heading into the 25-minute sprint race finale’ this afternoon.

UPDATE: A raft of post-race penalties saw several drivers drop down the order following the completion of Race 2.

Seven different drivers were penalised post-race for varying incidents including Safety Car restart breeches and on-track incidents.

Drivers penalised included Oscar Targett – who dropped from second to 14th – and Aron Shields, who went from third to eighth.

Brock Gilchrist was not penalised and as such retained his race win.