Callum Hedge walked away with a trio of third-place finishes in the second round of the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge at Sydney Motorsport Park over the weekend.
The Kiwi teenager set the tone in a fast-paced qualifying session held Friday night by landing a spot on the second row.
Two red flags punctuated the session, with Hedge posting a time four-tenths adrift of polesitter Ryan Suhle.
Sydney Motorsport Park can be notoriously difficult to overtake on, as proven by Christian Pancione, who jumped from second to the lead at the start before going on to dominate race one.
Hedge maintained third through the opening sequence of corners and quickly latched onto the tail of Suhle.
The two raged battle for second place over the opening few laps before Suhle eventually rediscovered his grove and pulled away from Hedge.
Hedge crossed the line four seconds behind Suhle, claiming his second podium of the season.
Saturday’s second race would be held over 45-minutes and results in the earlier race determined grid positions.
A clean race had Pancione fend off Suhle on much older rubber to clinch his second win of the day.
Hedge matched the pace of the two front runners for the opening half of the race. However, he ultimately settled for third, some 11 seconds behind the race winner.
The third and final race of the day was held on Sunday, though the scheduled race start time was delayed due to a thick blanket of fog.
When the Porsche field eventually ventured onto the circuit for the race start, Hedge slipped back to fourth after being overtaken by a fast-starting Bayley Hall.
Hall was running with old tyres for the 10-lapper, and Hedge got back ahead of his rival at turn one later in the race to seal third.
Suhle ran behind Pancione for most of the race but eventually sought a way past with a move at turn eight.
Hedge wasn’t the only Kiwi in the field. Madeline Stewart was steering the sister Earl Bamber Motorsport Porsche and finished 11th, 12th and 14th in the three races.
The next round of the Michelin Sprint Challenge is at Morgan Park on June 25-27.
