OSCAR TARGETT survived early race pressure from Brock Gilchrist before edging away to victory in the Jim Richards Endurance Championship race on Sunday morning at the NTI Townsville 500.
The Grove Racing Junior made the best start of the leading bunch and led the field into turn two but had to spend the first several laps vigorously defending his position from nearest rival, race one runner-up Brock Gilchrist.
The Team Porsche NZ racer attacked on several occasions but was unable to break Targett’s defence and ultimately slipped a second behind the leader, who edged away to claim his third straight win and fourth of the season on Sunday morning.
Targett becomes the third winner from three Enduro Cup races to date this season following successes for Hamish Fitzsimmons (Phillip Island) and Brock Gilchrist (The Bend) previously.
After running with the leaders early, Clay Osborne slipped back to finish a consistent third and a bag of valuable championship points in the process.
Behind the leading trio, the same as in race one, there were a host of impressive drives as several contenders worked their way from the back of the field following race one dramas.
Hamish Fitzsimmons gained 10 spots to finish fourth, while Nash Morris worked his way from the back to finish sixth in his STM machine.
After late-night rebuilds, both Jake Santalucia and Caleb Sumich were able to make meaningful inroads through the pack in their repaired machines this morning.
Santalucia stormed to 8th position and Sumich 10th after both teams worked to beyond midnight to ensure their cars could start the Enduro Cup race.
There was action aplenty in the Pro-Am ranks, Race 1 winner Brett Boulton and Lachy Harburg making contact early on that would ultimately end the race one winner’s race on the sport.
While Harburg recovered – via a few exciting moments – to second in class, Daniel Stutterd extended his class championship lead with 12th outright and a class win.
They were all, however, trumped by Brad Carr who passed them all to claim 11th outright in his Class B winning 991.1 Cup Car, while Jacque Jarjo finished just behind Stutterd on the road to take second in class.
The 29-lap race ended behind the control of the Porsche Taycan Safety Car following a late spin for Eric Constantinidis, who was stranded at turn seven with less than five minutes remaining.
One final, 20-minute sprint will complete the third round of the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia Series on Sunday afternoon.
That race will start at 12:45pm local time and will be shown live on Fox Sports, Kayo and Channel 7.
