Sandown 500 Porsche Carrera Cup Round 6
Australian GT Sprint Championship Round 5
Published on the 21st of September 2017 by McElrea Racing
Jaxon Evans
DNS, 5th, 4th - Porsche Carrera Cup 'Pro Class'
Jaxon qualified 2nd and had the chequered flag flown 10 seconds later, he would likely have been on pole.
As it turns out, it didn’t make much difference as car 7 broke a CV joint on the way to the grid so Jaxon didn’t even get to take his place on the front row of the grid.
In race 2 he started from the rear of the grid and passed eight cars to finish a very solid 9th. As is turned out 12 other competitors each received a 5 second penalty for weaving after the safety car lights went out, which elevated Jaxon to 5th.
In the final race he elbowed his way past O'Keefe and set after Heimgartner. Despite having more car speed, it was not in places that helped set up a pass, so he settled for 4th.
Tim Miles
1st, 2nd, 2nd - Porsche Carrera Cup 'Elite Class'
Tim qualified 3rd in Elite class. In race 1 he got a decent start and pressured Shahin until he made a clean pass before catching and demoting championship leader Steven Grove taking a well-deserved win.
In race 2 he drove a great race and kept his cool to stay ahead of his two Elite challengers. Unfortunately he was one of the victims of the 5 second weaving penalties dished out which cost him his race win to a better behaved Steve Grove!
In race 3 Tim had is hands full dicing with father and son combo Steve and Brenton Grove along with 'Pro' team-mate Simon. Tim bounced off some scenery which ended his battle with Steve but fortunately not his race.
Simon Ellingham
11th, 11th, 10th - Porsche Carrera Cup 'Pro Class'
Simon qualified 12th in Pro class. He hadn't driven the Cup Car since Malaysia eight weeks prior and was also pretty light on Simulator mileage, so we knew he would get quicker as the weekend went on.
In race 1 he got into a rhythm and charged his way from grid 17 through to 12th outright. He also managed to do his best lap time of the weekend on lap 8.
In race 2 he started 12th and spent a fair portion of the race sparring with team-mate Tim. They were joined by Abela late in the race who was lucky to get by Simon on the last lap.
In race 3 he started 14th. On lap 9 he passed team mate Tim after a minor excursion then passed Shahin to be running a strong 11th outright until a minor off on the last lap cost him a place to Tim.
Australian GT
Fraser Ross
2nd, 6th, 1st - Australian GT Championship 'Champ Class'
Fraser started the weekend in great form by topping the first practice session which was held on a dry track.
Both qualifying sessions were held on a wet track and after collating each cars best time, he qualified and started race 1 from 5th.
In race 1 he drove a superbly measured and aggressive race, highlighted by a terrific pass around the outside of Emery at the treacherous turn 6. He finished a well-deserved 2nd.
In race 2 the McLaren developed a faulty 'map sensor' which cost Fraser up to 15 km/h in a straight line. The sophisticated systems in the car ensuring the engine wasn't going to be damaged by reducing turbo boost and therefore, power.
The awesome MR crew had the mighty McLaren fixed for race 3. Fraser repaid the team's efforts with a stunning drive from 6th place to the front of the field.
After the pit stops he was able to pull a two second lead over championship contender Talbot and control the race from the front to take his first AGT win.
Summary
As usual, Sandown reminded us to expect the unexpected...
In Carrera Cup we were gutted for Jaxon breaking a driveshaft CV joint (only two thirds of the way through it's service life) on the way to the grid for race 1. A DNF in race 1 effectively crushes any chance of a result as you need to start from the rear for race 2. In any case, Jaxon's mature and pragmatic reaction impressed all around him.
Simon did a terrific job and apart from his off on the last lap of the 3rd race, hadn't put a foot wrong all weekend and certainly had his strongest race weekend since joining Carrera Cup this season.
Tim continued his podium finishing form, finishing on identical points to Steve Grove but being bumped to second place for the weekend by virtue of Steve winning on count back.
In AGT, Fraser finished the final round of the AGT '#Sprint' Championship in the best possible way by winning the final race of the season. This was even more special for Fraser and the team that enigmatic car owner Alex Franes and his wife Yolanda were in pitlane to enjoy their car's victory.
The awesome MR crew will now turn their attention to prepping the Porsches for Bathurst in three weeks and Fraser's McLaren for round 3 of the Australian GT '#Enduro' Championship at Hampton Downs in NZ at the end of October.