Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Round 4 @Queensland Raceway

Published on the 5th of August 2019 by McElrea Racing

It had been eight weeks since the last round of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship at Phillip Island where Harri and Michael had both grabbed podium finishes. We had tested prior to our home race at 'QR' and felt as well prepared as we could be.

The schedule included an 12-lap sprint race, a 33-lap enduro on Saturday evening and another 12-lap race on Sunday morning.

Harri Jones

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

Harri qualified 3rd. In race 1 he got a good start then after a frantic first lap he caught and passed Pancione for 2nd. He caught Vidau but got run off the road dicing for the lead and dropped to 3rd. He made a great pass on Pancione at the last corner and won the drag race to line to take 2nd.

In race 2 he got a good start to grab the lead into turn 2. He had an epic dice with Vidau, eventually taking the lead after a mechanical issue in his rivals car then having to fend off Pancione to take a fantastic victory.

In race 3 Harri got another great start and lead the field into turn 1. After a safety car period for a start line accident, he again withstood huge pressure from behind to take his second win and wrap-up the round victory.

Ryan Suhle

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge 'Pro Class' – DNF, 3rd, 3rd

Ryan qualified 2nd by a few 100ths of a second. In race 1 he had a decent start but dropped to 3rd on the run into turn 1, then after the run up the back straight to turn 3 he got pinched between two cars which broke his steering rack, forcing a DNF.

In race 2 he started from the rear of the grid and did a stellar job to scythe through the traffic to make his way into 5th place. After a late safety car he got the opportunity to make a couple more places including a sensational pass around the outside of Love in turn 4 on the final lap to take 3rd from the rear of the grid.

In race 3 he dropped a spot on lap 1 then had a very frustrating race trying to find a way past an exceptionally defensive Love. His wish came true with an assertive move up the inside into turn 4 on the final lap to take third on the road.

Brett Boulton

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

Brett did a great job to qualify 1st in Pro-Am. In race 1 he had a fairly lonely race in the Pro-Am lead. He raced among the pro drivers and ended up an impressive 5th outright and almost 10 seconds up the road from the 2nd placed Pro-Am competitor.

In race 2 it was a similar situation in that he didn’t have to do much wheel-to-wheel racing because he was so much quicker than his Pro-Am competition and he cruised to another dominant Pro-Am victory.

In race 3 Shahin got ahead at the start, so Brett did his best to get by but was under strict instructions that there was to be no risk, safe in the knowledge that 2nd in the final race would still give him the round win, which it did!

Michael Hovey

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge 'Pro-Am Class' – 3rd, 3rd, 3rd

Hoves qualified an impressive 3rd. In race 1 he got a good start and held his position. He pulled away from Woods and Taylor and set his sights on Shahin, which resulted in some great side-by-side racing for half a lap. He re-took 3rd place after disposing of McGregor who had got by after a small mistake.

In race 2 Hoves got off the line well and was again chasing down the Pro-Am championship leader Shahin and although he couldn’t take the place, he took another handy 3rd and 9th outright.

In race 3 he didn’t get a great start and lost a spot to Taylor. He kept the pressure on for the whole race which paid off when the 222 car made a mistake into turn 1 on the last lap and Hoves pounced to take another podium finish.

Summary

We were thrilled with our results at our ‘home circit’. Harri's two wins, Brett's two wins, Hoves' three 3rds and Ryan’s front row quali and two 3rds was a very satisfying result. In qualifying Ryan did our fastest ever lap time at QR in the Gen I 991 cup car and if not for a broken steering rack in race 1 he would certainly have been on the podium with his team mates. We never get complacent and always push to make our cars and drivers faster so it was very rewarding to have such a successful weekend.

Many thanks to the hard working MR crew, team manager 'Lethal' Leigh Geyer, Luffy the Supercoach, all our drivers; and their supporters. We hope to come out swinging again at Sandown in 7 weeks. See you there!