Harri Jones has held on for his first win on the streets of the Gold Coast after a chaotic opening race for round 6 of Porsche Equity-One Carrera Cup Australia.
It was Jones’ eighth win of the season and will have a chance to wrap up the championship tomorrow.
If Jones finishes ahead of David Russell and Clay Osborne in race 2 of the weekend, he will have a unassailable lead with still 4 races remaining.
The initial start of the race was delayed as rain started to fall.
The field pulled into pit lane and were given the option to switch to wet tyres, however the rain was minimal, and all leading contenders stayed on dry slick tyres.
When the race started, Jones led the pack through turns 1-2-3 as polesitter Tom Bewley settled into second.
McElrea Racing’s Daniel Quimby stalled off the line and Jake Santalucia just missed the stranded car.
The safety car was deployed on the second lap after Angelo Mouzouris and Matt Belford spun on a puddle in turn 3 and glanced the wall on the left-hand side.
Jones brought the field back to the restart as more rain started to fall.
The race was shortened by a lap after Richard MacDonald spun off the back of the beach chicane and collected the inside tyre barrier.
Jones would go on to cross the line first ahead of Bewley for second and Osborne for third.
Aaron Love, Glen Wood, Russell, Max Geoghegan, Diesel Thomas, and Santalucia was ninth while Lachlan Bloxsom climbed 10 positions to complete the top 10.
Rodney Jane collected just his second win of the season in Pro-Am.
Jane started third in class but would be leading by races end after class polesitter Jacque Jarjo spun on the opening lap exiting turn 3 before Belford spun in the same spot on lap 2.
Matt Slavin was second and scored some solid points in his battle for the Pro-Am championship, while Stephen Grove finished third.
Race 2 of the weekend will start at 10:00 (AEST) followed by race 3 at 13:25 (AEST).