Callum Hedge extended his Porsche Carrera Cup Australia championship lead to 116 points over title rival Jackson Walls in the latest round at Sandown.
As a result, Hedge claims the first major prize up for grabs in 2024, being a place in the Porsche Junior Shootout in Europe later this year, where he will face top junior drivers from global Porsche one-make championships head to head, with the winner claiming a scholarship prize to contest the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Championship in 2024.
With Hedge entering the round with a 32-point lead, the tense title battle with Walls swung further in the Kiwi’s favour in Saturday’s opener. He was the first driver to cross the line, only to receive a 5-second post-race penalty for a start line infringement.
Such was the gap the lead three had pulled on the field, he would only lose two places to be classified third. Walls, meanwhile, had struggled from a difficult qualifying result and could only improve from 13th to 1oth. Fabian Coulthard came home sixth.
There would be no mistake in Hedge’s second outing of the weekend, the Kiwi claiming Enduro Cup race honours in spectacular fashion, with a final corner pass on Race 1’s winner Dylan O’Keefe on the last lap.
Having started third, he played for time over the 28 laps, picking off Bailey Hall for second just past the race’s mid-point. He would then hunt down O’Keefe, who had built a gap over the field, and pick his moment on the final corner to get the move done.
Just 0.1 seconds separated the pair at the chequered flag, the win also resulting in Hedge extending his Enduro Cup lead to 43 points.
There were massive repercussions for Walls when he and David Wall came together at Turn 9 on the opening lap. Both cars were forced to retire as a result.
A dramatic start to Race 3 was Walls’ saving grace, with Hedge slow to get away off the line, which backed the pack up into Turn 1. A fast-starting Coulthard and Hedge came together entering the turn, seeing the Team Porsche New Zealand entry doing a full spin as a result, narrowly avoiding traffic before returning down the order.
Further back, however, Nick McBride, Christian Pancione, Adrian Flack, and Sam Shahin wouldn’t survive the turn, the four coming together with the former’s car launching airborne and landing on the latter’s.
Hedge recovered to finish 12th off the restart, minimising his losses to Walls to just three places.
The year continues to be a busy one for the talented Kiwi, who finished as runner-up in the Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship before committing to the Porsche Carrera Cup and Formula Regional Americas Championship, both of which he leads.
Should he be successful in the latter, a USD$600,000 prize towards a Super Formula drive in 2024 awaits.
The Porsche Carrera Cup Australia returns in support of the Bathurst 1000 on October 5-8.
