Max Vidau has taken victory in the opening race of the 2019 Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia season at Symmons Plains Raceway while Sam Shahin continued his TAG Heuer Pro-Am dominance.
The first attempt of a race start saw Cameron Crick fail to move from the start line. Tom Taplin narrowly missed the stationary #777 Porsche though Brett Boulton wasn’t so lucky, making heavy contact with Crick. While both drivers were unscathed, their Porsches received substantial damage and were unable to continue.
The race was red flagged and subsequently restarted, with Vidau leading pole-sitter Harri Jones into the opening corner. Vidau then managed to pull away to ultimately claim a three-second victory from Jones in the shortened 22-lap race. Ryan Suhle placed third from Aaron Love and Christian Pancione.
Sam Shahin continued as the class of the TAG Heuer Pro-Am field, taking sixth outright and first in class, finishing 25 seconds ahead of his closest class rival Sergio Pires, with Ross McGregor third in class in his 30th round start.
Andrew Goldie capitalised on a late-race accident of Emanuel Palyaris to claim the Class B race win from David Greig and Tony Martin.
The race also saw Matt Kingsley’s nine-year-old race lap record fall to race winner Max Vidau with the South Australian’s lap five performance of 0:53.2327.
Race two will be held at 3:25pm later today, with the final race of the season opener on Sunday, both of which can be viewed live on both Fox Sports 506 and streaming service Kayo.
Race Schedule
Saturday April 06, 2019
3:25pm Race 2 (28 Laps)
Sunday April 07, 2019
12:50pm Race 3 (28 laps)
Television and Streaming Schedule (local time)
Channel: Fox Sports 506 & Kayo
Race 2 – 3:25pm, Saturday April 06
Race 3 – 12:50pm, Sunday April 07
Results: Race 1
| Position | Car | Driver | Class | Laps | Race time | Fastest lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77 | Max Vidau | Pro | 22 | 19:44.6914 | 0:53.2327* |
| 2 | 12 | Harri Jones | Pro | 22 | 19:47.7717 | 0:53.2906 |
| 3 | 7 | Ryan Suhle | Pro | 22 | 19:49.3324 | 0:53.4979 |
| 4 | 78 | Aaron Love | Pro | 22 | 19:53.4927 | 0:53.6118 |
| 5 | 76 | Christian Pancione | Pro | 22 | 19:53.7714 | 0:53.4629 |
| 6 | 13 | Sam Shahin | TAG Heuer Pro-Am | 22 | 19:58.1604 | 0:53.5286 |
| 7 | 26 | Tom Taplin | Pro | 22 | 20:10.4475 | 0:54.1001 |
| 8 | 55 | Sergio Pires | TAG Heuer Pro-Am | 22 | 20:23.7373 | 0:54.7113 |
| 9 | 99 | Ross McGregor | TAG Heuer Pro-Am | 22 | 20:27.9578 | 0:54.8081 |
| 10 | 131 | Graham Williams | TAG Heuer Pro-Am | 22 | 20:41.6394 | 0:55.0479 |
| 11 | 10 | Michael Loccisano | TAG Heuer Pro-Am | 21 | 19:46.4614 | 0:55.0540 |
| 12 | 29 | Rob Woods | TAG Heuer Pro-Am | 21 | 19:51.7661 | 0:55.2479 |
| 13 | 22 | Andrew Goldie | Class B | 21 | 20:01.6095 | 0:55.9683 |
| 14 | 17 | Marcel Zalloua | TAG Heuer Pro-Am | 21 | 20:02.4358 | 0:54.8765 |
| 15 | 87 | David Greig | Class B | 21 | 20:07.6894 | 0:55.8221 |
| 16 | 21 | Shane Barwood | TAG Heuer Pro-Am | 21 | 20:26.6543 | 0:55.0599 |
| 17 | 3 | Jonathan Gliksten | TAG Heuer Pro-Am | 21 | 20:29.7609 | 0:56.4450 |
| 18 | 9 | Tony Martin | Class B | 21 | 20:38.6629 | 0:56.7159 |
| 19 | 5 | Nathan Murray | Class B | 20 | 20:15.5556 | 0:57.6368 |
| DNF | 91 | Emanuel Palyaris | Class B | 18 | 16:57.4155 | 0:54.8465 |
| DNF | 777 | Cameron Crick | Pro | |||
| DNF | 84 | Brett Boulton | TAG Heuer Pro-Am |
