Kiwi driver Clay Osborne has opened his 2026 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship campaign in perfect fashion, converting pole position into victory in Race 1 at Melbourne.
Osborne led the field away cleanly from the start, holding the advantage into Turn 1 as the pack streamed through the opening corners of the first race of the season. By the end of the second lap he had already built a comfortable 1.3-second lead over defending 2025 champion Dylan O’Keefe, with Harri Jones settling into third.
Further back, fellow New Zealander Tom Bewley endured a difficult start to the race. After qualifying 19th on the grid, Bewley slipped two positions on the opening lap and found himself down in 21st.
The race was neutralised on Lap 4 when Dean Fiore stopped on track, prompting the safety car and bunching the field back together.
With 13 minutes remaining, the race resumed and Osborne immediately reasserted control at the restart. The Kiwi timed it perfectly, denying O’Keefe any chance to challenge for the lead.
By Lap 6 Osborne had stretched the margin back out to around eight tenths of a second as the leading group began to pull clear of the rest of the field. Deeper in the pack, Bewley began to recover ground, climbing to 18th.
With five minutes remaining, Marcus Amand — running fourth — set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:49.093. Up front, however, Osborne remained firmly in control, maintaining a one-second buffer over O’Keefe as the race entered its closing stages. Jones held third ahead of Amand and Glen Wood in fifth.
Bewley continued to chip away in the midfield battle, gaining another position to move into 17th, though progress through the tightly packed group proved difficult.
At the chequered flag it was Osborne who secured the win, taking his first victory of the season — and his maiden Porsche Carrera Cup race win — after starting from his first pole position in the series. He crossed the line 0.784 seconds clear of O’Keefe, with Jones completing the podium.
Bewley brought the Team Porsche New Zealand entry home in 16th after working his way forward through the closing laps.
Race 2 of the weekend is scheduled for tomorrow at 8:30 PM NZT, with Osborne set to start from pole position once again following his Race 1 victory.
