Russell leads drought-breaking Carrera Cup session
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: July 19, 2024
For the for first time in six years, the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia appeared at Sydney Motorsport Park and David Russell shot to the top.
In the first appearance of the 92 GT3 Cup Car at the fast and flowing Sydney Motorsport Park, Russell made good use of fresh tyres to be miles ahead of the field.
The TekworkX Motorsport driver sat fourth as championship leader Harri Jones enjoyed a four tenth advantage.
But Jones was knocked out of P1 with just 20 seconds left as Russell flew on new rubber to go 1.2s clear.
Dylan O’Keeffe also put in a late lap to snatch second, just 0.04s clear of Jones as Jackson Walls and Angelo Mouzouris rounded out the top five.
It was a relatively clean session with Nathan McBride locking up at Turn 6.
Star guest driver Garth Tander could only manage 20th, 3s off the pace in his return to the one-make series after a year off.
Leading Pro Am was Adrian Flack in 16th.
But all eyes were on Russell, with his fresh tyre run of 1:29.0635 giving a glimpse of what will be possible in qualifying.
Carrera Cup returns with Practice 2 at 14.50 AEST.
Porsche Carrera Cup Australia SMP Practice 1 results