DAVID RUSSELL has stormed to victory in the best race of the season, as the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship put on a finish for the ages at Mount Panorama.

The experienced Queenslander, who recently notched up his 200th race start, fended off championship leader Harri Jones and Dylan O’Keeffe in a climactic one-lap dash in today’s 40-minute Enduro Cup race to claim his ninth – and possibly best – Carrera Cup Equity-One Professional class race win.

Matt Belford powered to an emphatic Pro-Am victory over Brett Boulton and Matt Slavin to continue his recent championship charge.

Starting second, Russell made the best start and beat teammate Marcus Amand to the first corner to build a lead he would never lose.

Leading by 1.8 seconds by the end of the first lap, he gapped Dale Wood and Amand in the early stages to look completely in control aboard his Hire-A-Hubby TekworkX entry.

Behind them, Jones and O’Keeffe were two drivers on the move having started the race in seventh and ninth places, respectively: the former quickly racing his way into the top four with his ever move mirrored by O’Keeffe just a few spots behind.

While Russell managed his lead in front, the battle for second gradually built as Amand caught second-placed Wood and Jones caught them both as he looked to recover from his worst qualifying performance of the season.

While Jones attempted several passes on Amand, the three-car battle came to a head with a climactic moment at Murray’s corner on the 13th lap, Jones diving up the inside at the corner while Amand tried to send it around the outside only to spin off the road and into the gravel trap – bringing out the Safety Car.

Amand would be recovered from the gravel and ultimately finish 23rd, however heads to tomorrow’s second race in an ideal place for redemption given he will start from pole once again.

With officials deeming there enough time for a one lap dash to the line, Russell led the field back to green conditions on a race track covered in dirt and debris from earlier incidents.

That cost Dale Wood a podium finish, the Connected Spaces driver wide at turn one and running off the road – allowing Jones a free pass to second as he recovered from bouncing through the runoff area. Wood ultimately finished seventh.

That set up the battle for the lead as Jones closed on Russell exiting the Elbow, the pair weaving down Conrod in the tow, before battling through the chase and into the final corner. Jones looked right, then left, but Russell’s defence was stout and saw him edge Jones to the line – O’Keeffe just behind them in third.

It was Russell’s first race win since Bathurst exactly twelve months ago and saw him gain considerable ground on Bayley Hall in their battle for third and fourth in the Equity-One Pro Class Championship.

Behind all that, Marco Giltrap equalled his career-best race finish with fourth position aboard his Team Porsche NZ entry, Glen Wood doing the same in fifth position aboard his Embrey Attachments car – also fielded by EBM.

Hamish Fitzsimmons was another to equal his PB result in sixth, with Wood seventh having recovered from his off at the start of the final lap.

Clay Osborne, Bayley Hall – who started 17th – and Lockie Bloxsom completed the top 10 in a thrilling race.

Pro-Am was Matt Belford’s race throughout, though the ID Land GWR driver was another to deal with the one-lap dash to the line to secure his third race win from the last four races.

He fended off Brett Boulton by less than one second to claim the win, while Matt Slavin was a mover and ended up third in class: Rodney Jane and Stephen Grove completing the top five.

The Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia field will have 24 hours to regroup from the opening race, Race 2 set for 3:25pm local time on Saturday at Mount Panorama, with live coverage on Fox Sports, Kayo, Sky NZ and the screens of Seven in Australia.