Michael Patrizi was the class of the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia field in the opening race at Sandown Raceway, while Tony Bates claimed his fifth Elite Class race win of the season.
Patrizi starred from the start line, leading into the opening corner before running wide and dropping two positions.
The mishap didn’t faze the West Australian, however, who climbed back to the top spot by Lap 10 and ultimately claimed victory in the 17-lap opening race.
Steven Richards placed second from Shae Davies, Craig Baird and TAG Heuer Pole Position Award recipient Warren Luff, who also ran wide in the opening corner and subsequently dropped several positions.
Team-mates Nick McBride and Nick Foster finished sixth and seventh, respectively, from Sam Power, Duvashen Padayachee and Michael Almond in 10th.
Patrizi will now start Sunday’s Race 2 from pole position and is confident of retaining his front-running pace.
“I went back to third after the mistake at Turn 1 but I knew I had the pace to win. I just picked off the positions one by one and then did my best to pull away,” said Patrizi.
“I’m pretty confident and comfortable with my car at the moment. We haven’t made a set-up change since Practice 1 in Townsville; it’s extremely well balanced and I’m pretty happy with how it’s performing.
“I am confident now going into Race 2. Tomorrow’s another day so we’ll see what happens.”
Tony Bates was the top Elite Class driver in Race 1, placing 11th outright and finishing ahead of class points leader Stephen Grove, Ash Samadi, Tony Walls, Shane Smollen, James Bergmuller and Marc Cini in 17th.
Bates was pleased with the result and aims to replicate his Clipsal 500 class-winning form.
“I’m very happy with that result; one down, two to go,” said Bates.
“Starting from the front row in the Elite Class always helps. I think we’ve had good car speed all year but we haven’t had much luck. The intention this round was to get pole and lead the class in all three races, like we did at the Clipsal 500.”
Brenton Ramsay placed 18th in his new-look Porsche from Maurie Pickering, Adrian Mastronardo, Roger Lago, Greg Taylor and Renee Gracie.
Richards extends his lead in the Outright and Professional Class by 30 points from Luff, with Baird 38 points further behind in third.
Grove also extended his lead in the Elite Class, now 69 points ahead of Bergmuller, with Race 1 class winner Bates a further 12 points behind.
Porsche Carrera Cup Australia will hold its second two races of the Sandown round on Sunday, with Race 2 to be broadcast on 7mate.
Race Schedule
Sunday September 14, 2014
9:35am–10:00am – Race 2 (17 laps)
12:25pm–12:50pm – Race 3 (17 laps)
Broadcast Schedule
Carrera Cup – Race 2 (delayed)
Date: Sunday September 14, 2014
Time: 11:30am (local time)
Channel: 7mate