Callum Hedge made a strong start to the weekend, moving through the field in the first race of the weekend, before a tough second race. Kaleb Ngatoa however, had a strong day, gaining positions in his first race of the weekend.
Porsche Carrera Cup Austalia
Hedge started the first Porsche Carrera Cup race of the weekend from 11th.
Hedge sat mid-pack for the majority of the qualifying session. Much of the field were cycling their tyres for a final run when the red flag was brought out for an incident involving Christian Pancione, which ended the session early.
The Kiwi made a strong start to the race, gaining a few positions in the early laps, avoiding the drama that others found themselves in.
Marc Cini ran off track, getting stuck briefly in the gravel trap, after bouncing off the wall, he was, however, able to make his way back out of the gravel, before triggering a safety car.
The safety car would make an appearance soon after for Bayley Hall who was stuck in a gravel trap.
Hedge had clawed his way into seventh by the time the safety car was called, as it happened late in the race, organisers were forced to cut the race a few laps short.
The feild would be released from the safety car for a one-lap sprint to the finish line. Hedge gained another position in the final lap to cross the line in sixth.
The sixth-place result would determine Hedge’s grid spot for the second race of the day, he quickly improved on his starting position, moving into fifth in the first few corners of the opening lap.
The field was brought under the control of the safety car at the end of the opening lap, as Dale Wood was stranded on track after being spun early on the lap, suffering a punctured tyre in the process.
Matthew Belford had an incident that saw the safety car make its second appearance, soon after the first.
On the race restart, Hedge looked to continue to move forward but had contact with Pancione, who ended up running wide and off track, for which Hedge received a 10-second post-race penalty.
The day continued to get worse, as shortly after the penalty was handed out Hedge was off track with what appeared to be coolant dropping from the car a few laps from the race finish. Hedge stopped on track on the final lap of the race, unable to make it to the finish line.
S5000
Kaleb Ngatoa set a 1.41.45 lap to jump to second on the timesheets at the halfway point in qualifying, though he would be knocked down the timesheets as drivers continued to improve their times, ending the session ninth.
After starting from ninth Ngatoa gained positions early to move up to seventh by the end of the opening lap.
From there Ngatoa ran a clean race to hold onto seventh at the end of the race. While Joey Mawson and Aaron Cameron had a battle for the lead that saw Mawson hold onto the win despite the late charge from Cameron.
S5000 will be back out on track for Race 2 at 7.15 pm Saturday afternoon, while the Porsche Carrera Cup series will be out earlier in the day at 2 pm.
Main image: Porsche Motorsport Australia social media
