Young gun Jordan Love has continued his front-running form at Sydney Motorsport Park for round four of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia presented by Pirelli series, while Anthony Gilbertson’s second straight round clean sweep has moved him into Elite Class title contention.
Brenton Grove started Sunday’s race two with the early lead, repeating his race one effort of an impressive jump off the line from second on the grid. Grove was challenged throughout the opening laps by Love, who gained the race lead on lap five of the 10-lap race and pulled away to take the victory from Grove.
Shahin was running third for the majority of race two before Gilbertson gained the position on lap eight. Shahin tried to regain the position on the final lap, the move resulting in Shahin spinning at turn two and dropping down the order. Gilbertson claimed third for the race from John Morriss, Brett Boulton, John Steffensen and Shahin in seventh. Ross McGregor placed eighth from Shane Barwood and Class B winner David Greig in 10th.
Love was again first to cross the finish line in race three, regaining the lead from early front-runner Anthony Gilbertson on the opening lap.
Grove finished race three with his third second place for the weekend from Gilbertson, Morriss, Boulton in fifth, with a hard charging Marcel Zalloua moving from the rear of the field to place sixth ahead of Shahin, Steffensen, McGregor and Class B race winner Brendan Cook in 10th.
With race three victory, Love secured his seventh straight race win and his 10th of the 2017 GT3 Cup Challenge season.
“We struggled early in the weekend throughout practice, just grabbed pole position in qualifying and learned a lot throughout the weekend. I hadn’t driven here before in a Porsche, but I feel as though by the time we got to the last race I was happy with my performance,” said Love.
“There’s still a long way to go over the next two race meetings and anything can happen so I have to remain consistent until the final race of the season.”
Gilbertson was thrilled with his Sydney form and his Elite Class title race reinvigoration.
“It was the second perfect weekend in two rounds,” said Gilbertson. “I was so happy to get that last race out of the way. I was freaking out that I would get a bad start like I did earlier today and I got the best launch I’ve probably ever had. When I passed Love on the outside of turn one I was actually screaming in the car and once I got into the lead I didn’t know what the hell to do! Once Love and Grove got by I just managed the lead to the other Elite Class guys.
“I’ve been very lucky this weekend, I’ve picked up a lot of points on Sam, who is still leading. If I can go up to Queensland Raceway, which is my home track, and do well there you never know who might be leading into the last round.”
Two Class B race wins and a second in race three handed Greig the class round win and a 156 point lead in the class standings.
Love now holds a comprehensive 63 and 61 point lead in the Outright and Professional Class standings, with Grove placed second in both point scores.
Meanwhile Shahin’s lead in the Elite Class standings has been reduced to just four points following Gilbertson’s recent Winton and Sydney success.
Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia presented by Pirelli returns to the track on August 04-06 for the penultimate round of the 2017 season at Queensland Raceway, which will hold the third and deciding race of the Jim Richards Endurance Trophy.
Results: Race 2
1. #79 Jordan Love (Professional Class) Sonic Motor Racing / Quintis – 10 laps, 15:44.0214s
2. #23 Brenton Grove (Professional Class) Grove Hire – 10 laps, 15:45.3716s
3. #19 Anthony Gilbertson (Elite Class) Hallmark Homes – 10 laps, 15:53.8040s
4. #34 John Morriss (Elite Class) Motorsport Leasing P/L – 10 laps, 16:09.2187s
5. #84 Brett Boulton (Elite Class) Bold Living – 10 laps, 16:11.2925s
6. #78 John Steffensen (Professional Class) Zagame Autosport – 10 laps, 16:16.3999s
7. #13 Sam Shahin (Elite Class) HTFU – 10 laps, 16:18.9381s
8. #99 Ross McGregor (Elite Class) Southern Star Windows – 10 laps, 16:19.6376s
9. #21 Shane Barwood (Elite Class) Melbourne Orthopaedic Group – 10 laps, 16:20.4466s
10. #87 David Greig (Class B) 10 laps, 16:38.0556s
11. #88 Phil Morriss (Elite Class) Morriss Racing Services – 10 laps, 16:44.2278s
12. #11 Brendan Cook (Class B) Cairns Steel Fabrication – 10 laps, 16:51.3900s
DNF #17 Marcel Zalloua (Elite Class) 360 Motorsport / Valmont – 3 laps, 5:47.3363s
Results: Race 3
1. #79 Jordan Love (Professional Class) Sonic Motor Racing / Quintis – 10 laps, 15:54.9267s
2. #23 Brenton Grove (Professional Class) Grove Hire – 10 laps, 16:03.5144s
3. #19 Anthony Gilbertson (Elite Class) Hallmark Homes – 10 laps, 16:13.2952s
4. #34 John Morriss (Elite Class) Motorsport Leasing P/L – 10 laps, 16:22.3129s
5. #84 Brett Boulton (Elite Class) Bold Living – 10 laps, 16:25.8666s
6. #17 Marcel Zalloua (Elite Class) 360 Motorsport / Valmont – 10 laps, 16:25.9473s
7. #13 Sam Shahin (Elite Class) HTFU – 10 laps, 16:26.3872s
8. #78 John Steffensen (Professional Class) Zagame Autosport – 10 laps, 16:29.2979s
9. #99 Ross McGregor (Elite Class) Southern Star Windows – 10 laps, 16:40.4247s
10. #11 Brendan Cook (Class B) Cairns Steel Fabrication – 10 laps, 16:43.0134s
11. #88 Phil Morriss (Elite Class) Morriss Racing Services – 10 laps, 16:47.7620s
12. #21 Shane Barwood (Elite Class) Melbourne Orthopaedic Group – 10 laps, 16:50.1476s
13. #87 David Greig (Class B) 10 laps, 17:28.8333s