The Porsche Sprint Challenge saw some amazing racing from the Kiwis, with William Exton and Tom Bewley both racing for a podium position. All three improved during the race before a damaged car saw a heartbreaking DNF for Exton.
Qualifying:
Lachlan Bloxsom took the pole position for Saturday’s race with a quick lap time of 1:13.814, just 0.167 seconds ahead of Jake Santalucia in second.
Exton was the best qualifying Kiwi, sitting just 0.317 seconds behind Bloxsom with a fastest lap time of 1:14132.
Bewley was close behind, qualifying in 6th with a lap time of 1:14.493, meaning he would start the race sitting right behind Exton.
Just 1.099 seconds behind Bloxom, Hunter Robb qualified in 11th position, just outside of the top ten.
Race:
Robb had a great start, immediately getting ahead of two cars to make it into the top 10 and hold 9th position, successfully blocking the passed vehicles, stopping them from getting ahead of him.
Exton was passed by Ryan Casha, who had a great jump off the line, putting him in front of fellow Kiwi Bewley, and right behind Tyler Greenbury, whom Casha had also passed.
On the exit of turn 3, Greenbury got loose and tapped the wall, but managed to stay in front of Exton and hold onto 4th position. A few turns later, the damage revealed itself as Greenbury’s car started smoking, and he had to stop in a runoff to let cars pass him before slowly heading into the pits and retiring from the race.
After Robb held off Daniel Quimby for 8 minutes, he found an opportunity to pass and got ahead of the Kiwi, dropping him back to 10th. Robb stayed close after, keeping the gap down at 0.2 seconds and not letting the car behind catch up.
Going around turn 2, Lachlan Harburg spun out and ended up facing sideways in the runoff, having to wait for multiple cars to pass before being able to rejoin the race safely.
Exton was over a second behind Casha and Bloxsom in second and third after Greenbury’s incident, but brought that down and sat behind Bloxsom just after he had been passed. Staying close, Exton got a good exit from turn 2 and ran beside Bloxsom, gaining more speed and pushing in front of him for the next corner, taking the podium position.
Bewley had sat right behind Exton and followed him on the inside of Bloxsom, sitting right beside him, going around turn 3. In the struggle to stay ahead, the drivers ran into the side of each other twice before Bewley was able to get the better racing line and push ahead to secure 4th.
The tight racing meant Exton quickly gained a 1-second lead over Bewley, holding onto 3rd position unchallenged.
Robb kept his gap behind Quimby under half a second for multiple laps before getting the opportunity to pass him and take back 9th position. At that point, there were only a few laps left, and James Lodge had a 4-second lead in 8th place.
With 4 minutes left, Bewley overtook Exton for 3rd position and a spot on the podium. This was the first sign of trouble for Exton as he started dropping positions, going from 3rd to 11th in just one lap.
Unable to continue racing, he came into the pit lane where the team discovered he had broken a lower control arm after hitting a curb too hard, forcing Exton to retire from the race.
After getting the jump on Bloxsom at the the start of the race, Jake Santalucia took the lead and converted it into the race win.
Bewley held off Bloxsom and secured the podium finish and second row start for tomorrow’s race. Robb also improved, starting a row ahead of today’s race. After repairing his car, Exton will start tomorrow’s race in 24th position.
Header Image: William Exton
