Team Porsche New Zealand’s Brock Gilchrist has taken his maiden Porsche Sprint Challenge Australia win in this morning’s 45-minute Jim Richards Enduro Cup outing.
The Kiwi was forced to overcome a pair of Safety Car restarts and a strong challenge from Oscar Targett to become the fifth different winner in five races this year.
A broken splitter on Saturday winner Clay Osborne‘s McElrea Racing entry cost him on the restarts and salvaged some championship points in eleventh.
Ayrton Hodson was again consistent within the top ten to finish eighth.
The temperature sat at just three degrees when Osborne led the field to green and retained his position over the opening lap.
Gilchrist made his move for the lead on Lap 2, quickly climbing from fourth to first, with Aron Shields briefly following through but Osborne returning to second.
Targett worked his way forward through the pack and took second off Osborne on lap 17.
The first Safety Car was called when Ben Taylor and Caspar Tresidder ran off at Turn 4, and Osborne tumbled down the order off the restart because of his damage.
A second intervention was required shortly after when Ramu Farrell ran off at Turn 1, resulting in a one-lap dash to the line.
Gilchrist held on at the front ahead of Targett for his maiden race win, with Shields completing the podium places.
The results set up a winner-take-all finale between Gilchrist and Targett for round honours, with the duo only split by one championship point heading into this afternoon’s 25-minute sprint.
New Zealand viewers can watch Race 3 at 3.45 pm on the SpeedSeries website.
Header Image: Porsche Motorsport Australia
