AUS: Series Morgan Park race 1 report

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE RULES AS KINGSLEY SWEEPS RACE ONE

Local Knowledge has proven to be a big commodity at Morgan Park Raceway in Queensland as local drivers filled four of the first six places in today's opening Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia Series presented by Mission Foods race.

Southport (Gold Coast) ace Matt Kinglsey continued his winning ways after starting from pole and winning the 12-lap race easily, whilst Roger Lago finished second. Victorian Jon Trende was third, ahead of another local in VIP Petfoods driver Tony Quinn. Sven Burchartz finished fifth.

Lago got the best start and led the first lap, only for Kingsley to slice his 996 GT3 Cup Car up the inside at turn one to a lead he would never lose.

Lago then slipped into the clutches of a fast-starting Jeff Bobik, who diced with the second-placed man for several laps before spinning his car at turn seven, eventually recovering to finish ninth.

Kingsley also set the fastest lap and the new class lap record, at 1m18.1039s.

Second-placed man Lago said he didn't have quite enough pace to challenge Kingsley for the win.

"It's the same as last year, Matt had the pace and although I got the start I could only hold him up for a lap or two before he came past," he said.

"The car was good though Jeff Bobik was putting a lot of pressure on me. It was a really good battle before he spun."

Bobik said he was just too close to the rear of Lago's 997 GT3 Cup Car and had to choose between making contact or spinning his car off. Though the end result was disapointing, his pace was impressive given he had a clutch issue in qualifying that restricted him to just two hot laps.

"I think Roger braked a little bit early to get a good run down the fast bit of the track so he could cover me," Bobik explained.

"I was either going to run into the back of him in the braking zone or spin, because I was really close and putting the pressure on. I broke hard and the back just came round and I ended up pointing the wrong way.

"I had the race pace and set the second fastest lap, only a hundredth off Kingsley, so the car is quick. We'll come through tomorrow - it was a good race."

The battles for position in the bottom half of the top ten were equally intense, Brad Rankin, Yuey Tan and Terry Knight fighting for sixth, seventh and eighth.

In just his second round and fourth ever race in a Porsche since making the step from Saloon Cars, John Goodacre finished inside the top ten and third in the 996 class.

Tomorrow will see two races contested to decide the winner of round four of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia Series presented by Mission Foods, as part of the Shannons Nationals.

-source: gt3cupchallenge.com.au