Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Round 2 @Sydney Motorsport Park

Published on the 20th of May 2019 by McElrea Racing

It had been six weeks since the first round of the GT3 Cup Challenge championship at Symmons Plains in Tasmania so we were keen to get back to SMP to resume the battle. We were also pleased to welcome Michael Hovey back to the team after missing round 1 due to business commitments.

The schedule included two 10-lap sprint races on Saturday and a 25-lap race on Sunday.

Harri Jones

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge 'Pro Class' – 3rd, 2nd, 1st

Harri qualified 4th. In race 1 he got a very good start and ran 2nd holding off Love for most of the race until succumbing with a couple of laps to go take a solid 3rd.

In race 2 he did a great job to avoid a stationary Vidau and drove a smart race to take a healthy bag of points for 2nd.

In the 25-lap race 3, Harry had a decent start and made an assertive pass for the lead into turn 4, before controlling the race beautifully. Although he came under some pressure in the last few laps he held his composure for his first Porsche win.

Ryan Suhle

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge 'Pro Class' – 4th, 1st, DNF

Ryan qualified 2nd. In race 1 he got a bad start and dropped to 4th. He did his best to improve position but had to settle for a frustrated 4th.

In race 2 he got a great start and was running a strong 2nd which became 1st when Love went off the road ahead which handed Ryan his first Porsche win!

In race 3 Ryan accidentally burnt out the clutch before the lights went out and unfortunately only made it to turn 2 before having to pull off the track.

Brett Boulton

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge 'Pro-Am Class' – 4th, 2nd, 1st

Brett did a sensational lap in qualifying to qualify on pole ahead of Carrera cup contender Shahin. In race 1 he got a decent start a was leading until mid-race when a spin dropped him back near to the rear of the field.

In race 2 he started from grid 11 then drove a terrific race to drive through the Pro-Am field to 2nd.

In race 3 Brett started from grid 6 and had a cracking race to catch and pass Shahin and take the Pro-Am win as well as an outstanding 5th outright.

Michael Hovey

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge 'Pro-Am Class' – 9th, 7th

Considering he missed round 1 at Tasmania, Michael did a fantastic job to qualify 4th in Pro-Am. In race 1 it all came unglued when his car stalled at the start.

He managed to pass 7 cars to finish 9th in Pro-Am.

In race 2 he had a great race with Wood and Williams, eventually finishing 7th.

In the final race, he was following instructions and making plenty of passes until being taken out at turn 6 by an out of control competitor which broke the left rear suspension and ended his race.

Summary

What a weekend! Both Ryan and Harri took their first ever race wins in GT3 Cup Challenge, Brett took the Pro-Am win in race 3 and Harri's strong weekend saw him take over the lead of the Pro championship.

Next up is GT3CC round 3 at Phillip Island in three weeks. See you there!