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Townsville Carrera clash a double-edged story

By Timothy Neal

Date posted: 4 July 2023

Townsville will host Round 3 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia this weekend, with an intriguing three-way battle having developed in the early rounds.

It’s a mix of youth and experience on top of the table of Australia’s premier one-make series, with veteran Dale Wood wedged in between series leader Jackson Walls and Kiwi gun Callum Hedge, who are also setting up an intriguing Junior cup battle.

Wood celebrated his 100th Carrera Cup race in superb style in Darwin, sweeping the round in dominant fashion after also taking pole.

It’s also a return to the scene of his first Carrera Cup win for series leader Jackson Walls, and although he wasn’t really in the frame to run down Wood at Hidden Valley, his own sweep of podiums kept him up top.

Carrera Cup veteran Dale Wood was dominant in Darwin, taking pole and a sweep of vicrories to celebrate his 100th race outing

The battle between Walls and Hedge has a two-way edge this season, with both young drivers vying for the separate Junior Driver championship, which has the dangling carrot of the global Porsche Junior Shootout at the end of it.

Another contender for the Pro and Junior championship is Melbourne AGP winner Max Vidau, who also sits in fourth place in the overall Pro battle – 111 points of Walls in both cases.

The particular storyline of Walls and Hedge has the Aussie ahead by 18 points, but if there’s one thing race fans know about Hedge, it’s that he doesn’t go away, and he’s proving that over several continents.

Hedge returns from another sweep of the Formula Regional Americas, where his overseas open wheel form has continued after his second place showing at the Oceania regionals in NZ.

Kiwi young gun Callum Hedge is looming large in the battle for the Pro and Junior championship

And whilst it’s not been the strong start to the championship that Dylan O’Keeffe had hoped for and is more than capable of, it’s a good round to get behind him, as he takes on Dry July, raising importantly needed funds for Bowel Cancer Australia.

In the Pro-Am stakes, Adrian Flack enjoys a 31 point lead over Dean Cook, who won the class round in Darwin, with Sam Shahin sitting equal third with Cook.

It’s also the first round for the Carrera Endurance Cup in both the Pro and Pro-Am, with a 28 lap race encounter to be held on the Sunday.

Walls has had a brilliant start to the year, sitting on top of the Carrera Cup Pro and Junior standings. Image: Mark Horsburgh

Action commences on Friday with a pair of practice sessions ahead of qualifying on Saturday morning, which will again be split into separate segments for Pro Am and Pro contenders.

Race 1 kicks off on Saturday afternoon with two further races on Sunday to complete the round.

Races 1 and 3 will be shown live and free on the Seven Network, while the remaining sessions following Practice 1 will also be broadcast live and ad-break free on Fox Sports and Kayo.

For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.

Auto Action, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport.

PODCAST: The latest episode of the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast is out now!

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