A roaring weekend for Kiwi driver Marco Giltrap saw him claim a double podium and his best-ever finish in Carrera Cup Australia, while Clay Osborne’s race was compromised after getting caught up in a lap-one incident.
Race 1:
Osborne made a lightning start, surging ahead of Jones and McLennan to take sixth early on. Both Kiwis were forced wide through Turn 1 but used the outside line to their advantage — Giltrap holding firm in fourth behind pole-sitter Amand, who slipped two positions off the line.
Down the main straight at the end of the opening lap, Jones launched a move on Osborne, soon followed by O’Keeffe, shuffling the young Kiwi back to eighth.
Giltrap, meanwhile, couldn’t quite match the blistering pace of the front-runners, running around three seconds adrift after the first two laps and turning his focus to defence. Jones swept around the outside at the bottom of the hill to snatch fourth, dropping Giltrap to fifth as he settled into a rhythm for the remainder of the race.
On the following lap, O’Keeffe closed in on Giltrap and executed a pass at the same spot where Jones had made his move a lap earlier. Further back, Oscar Targett provided a reminder of Bathurst’s unforgiving nature, running through the grass after pushing the limits of the track.
Osborne, meanwhile, held his ground against Hamish Fitzsimmons, who shadowed him closely through the opening half of the race. At one stage, Fitzsimmons looked poised to make a move, but mounting pressure from Mouzouris forced him to back off, giving Osborne some breathing room.
Up ahead, Giltrap slipped outside the top five but maintained a steady gap of around one second over Glen Wood, showing strong composure as he defended his position.
Before long, the pack behind Osborne began to close in, with Mouzouris seizing an opening to slip past and take eighth. Right on their tail, Fitzsimmons and Vidal were poised to pounce, looking for any chance to capitalise.
Osborne managed to hold off the pressure for several laps, but eventually both drivers found a way through, dropping the Kiwi further down the order.
After his earlier off-track excursion, Oscar Targett’s race took another turn for the worse when he clipped the wall at the top of the mountain. He limped his car back to pit lane, fortunately without affecting anyone else’s run.
As the race neared its conclusion, Amand made a late attempt to overtake D. Wood, but lost control under braking and ran into the gravel, bringing out the safety car. Once his car was recovered, the field prepared for a tense one-lap sprint to the finish.
At the restart, Dale Wood’s hopes of a podium unravelled when he locked up into the final corner and slid off the track, dropping out of contention in heartbreaking fashion.
Race 2:
The two Kiwis lined up close together, with Giltrap starting fifth and Osborne just behind in seventh. Osborne made a strong launch, immediately diving past Glen Wood off the line to grab sixth, running side-by-side with Giltrap through the opening corners.
Giltrap managed to hold station ahead of a charging Osborne, who soon came under attack from Fitzsimmons. The pressure mounted, and Fitzsimmons slipped past going up the mountain, forcing Osborne to switch his focus to defence.
Further up the hill, Sam Shahin’s race came to a sudden halt when he lost control and slammed into the wall, scattering debris across the track. His damaged car couldn’t be moved, prompting the safety car to be deployed halfway through the opening lap. Once the incident was cleared, the field bunched up for a five-minute dash to the flag, setting up a tense sprint to the finish.
In the closing minutes, Giltrap, Fitzsimmons, and Osborne ran nose-to-tail, all fighting hard for fifth place. Fitzsimmons closed to within just 0.06 seconds of Giltrap, but the Kiwi held firm under immense pressure, defending brilliantly to keep his position.
Drama struck at the front when race leader Amand clipped the wall, damaging the rear of his car and coming to a stop at the side of the track. As his stranded Porsche wasn’t in a dangerous spot, officials allowed the field to continue, setting up one final lap of high tension.
On that last lap, Bayley Hall finally found a way past Osborne, having shadowed him for several laps, leaving the young Kiwi to cross the line in seventh.
After the chequered flag, Dale Wood was handed a post-race penalty for contact on the opening lap, dropping him from first to fifth. The penalty promoted Giltrap to third, earning the Auckland driver his first-ever Carrera Cup Australia podium — a fitting reward after a hard-fought race.
Race 3:
Giltrap roared off the line, easily securing third place as he didn’t give Fitzsimmons a chance to fight for it. Osborne got stuck next to fierce competitors who challenged him for 7th, but he held the position.
Going around turn 1, Hall spun out in the middle of the track, hitting the front of Jones, who was caught in the wrong place, sending them both off in a cloud of smoke.
On the next lap, Fitzsimmons overtook Giltrap on the inside at turn 1, but ran too deep and gave the position right back to Kiwi. He had to focus on defending after that, as the Wood brothers tried to make both of them.
Osborne’s race took a turn for the worse when he was handed a drive-through penalty after being deemed responsible for spinning Hall, having tagged him from behind while caught in traffic. The penalty dropped the young Kiwi to 22nd, an almost impossible position to recover from with just seven minutes remaining.
At the front, O’Keeffe stretched his advantage over Giltrap to three seconds while closing in on race leader Russell, who had built a strong early margin. Osborne managed to pass Cini shortly after rejoining the track, but the sizable gaps between the Pro-Am runners meant progress was limited.
Meanwhile, Fitzsimmons kept the pressure on Giltrap, but the Auckland driver held firm, building a crucial one-second buffer to secure some breathing space. Up front, Russell fended off multiple late challenges from O’Keeffe to take the win after a tense final few laps.
Despite his setback, Osborne fought back through the field, picking off several Pro-Am competitors to salvage 17th place by the chequered flag. Giltrap capped off a superb weekend with third place, marking his best-ever Carrera Cup Australia finish and his second podium in a row.
The series now heads to the Gold Coast 500 on October 24–26 for the penultimate round of the season, where both Kiwis will be looking to carry their momentum into the streets of Surfers Paradise.
Header Image: Porsche Carrera Cup Australia
