2019 Porsche Carrera Cup - Round 1 | Racing News

28 February - 3 March 2019

The Bob Jane T-Marts Porsche Carrera Cup team endured a tough season-opener with both Jordan Love and Michael Almond chasing pace at the Superloop Adelaide 500 over the weekend.

Love finished the weekend fifth overall while his teammate, who was forced out of Race 1 due to a water pump failure, finished the round tenth.

The opening practice session met a premature end due to an incident at Turn 8 early in the session, leaving teams with only the one practice session to work on optimal setup.

In Practice 2, Love recorded the third fastest time but left his final run too late in qualifying, ending the session fifth after getting caught in traffic.

The #777 driver dropped a position in Race 1 to finish sixth and said he made a few mistakes throughout the race.

Love made up ground in Race 2 to finish fifth. A good start in Race 3 saw him gain a position and challenge for third before eventually finishing fourth.

“It was great to be back in the car but it was a tough weekend,” Love said. “We didn’t quite have the pace of the front runners."

“In the opening race, I made a few mistakes and generally struggled with pace. Race 2 was a step forward and by Race 3 we had pretty good pace.

“While we didn’t get on top of setup early enough we did make gains across the weekend and we are coming away with a straight car,” Love added.

Teammate Michael Almond enjoyed a better run through qualifying setting the third fastest time of the session.

The car #77 driver made a good start to Race 1 and showed great pace as he challenged for second throughout the opening laps of the race. A failed water pump forced Almond out of the race on Lap 5 marking a premature end to a positive opening race.

Starting from last on the grid for Race 2, Almond drove an impressive race to move up the order and finish in the top ten by the race end. The South Australian made up more ground in the final race of the weekend finishing sixth.

“The cards just didn’t land our way this weekend,” Almond explained. “We had good pace in Race 1 and I was challenging for second place so it was a bit disappointing for the race to end that way."

“In Race 2, I had my work cut out for me coming from last to tenth but again I was really happy with the car's pace. Sundays’ cooler temperature meant we didn’t quite get the advantage we thought we would with the tyres we had for Race 3.

“While the overall result doesn’t look that good on paper we took a lot of positives from the weekend and head into the second round in two weeks’ time with confidence,” he continued.

The Bob Jane T-Marts Porsche Carrera Cup team will have a short turnaround to prepare for the second round of the series at the Formula 1 2019 Rolex Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on 14 -17 March.