Bob Jane T-Marts overcome tricky conditions to star at the Mountain

Paynter Dixon Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championships entered its penultimate round at Bathurst and the form driver at the previous two events was Bob Jane T-Marts-supported Aaron Love.

The West Australian was coming off round victories at The Bend Motorsport Park and Sandown was remarkably in title contention despite missing two rounds earlier in the season due to his European commitments.

Joining Love in another Pro entry was regular teammate Simon Fallon, while rounding out the trio of Bob Jane T-Marts Porsches was Pro-Am contender and company CEO Rodney Jane, returning to the Mountain to compete for the first time in nearly a decade.

Love continued his rich vein of form to take pole position for the Bathurst round as he targeted a hattrick of event victories in what has been an impressive season.

He was on-track after taking the win in Race 1, but the weather ensured the weekend finished early as the following event was cancelled and the finale was red flagged after one lap.

Fallon made it two Bob Jane T-Marts Porsches inside the top 10 by qualifying ninth as he was one of the few drivers to make progress during the extremely inclement conditions of Race 1 to cross the line seventh.

Although his confidence in the new model Porsche has grown, he was unable to take advantage due to the limited running experienced for the remaining time of the event.

Jane’s return to the Mountain yielded solid results as he steadily progressed, achieving sixth in qualifying before replicating this in the end of the opening race.

Love will be targeting title success as the Paynter Dixon Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship concludes on the Gold Coast, October 28-30.

Aaron Love

“It’s been a pretty good weekend here at Bathurst once you take away some of the negatives,” said Love.

“I started practice with a pretty quick car to be second with Simon (Fallon) fastest. Jumped into qualifying and it dried up quick, so we knew we had our work cut out for us there, but fortunately we got pole.

“The first race was in torrential rain and I managed to come away with the win, with some awesome pace. The team has put in a mammoth effort all weekend and it was unfortunate Race 2 was cancelled due to rain, which I think was the right decision.

“We started well in Race 3, but there was an incident on track and it was red flagged. I’m sure everyone up and down the paddock is a little bit disappointed we didn’t get the race done.

“Overall it’s been a good round and I’m really looking forward to the Gold Coast.”

Simon Fallon

“Unfortunately, not many laps this weekend, which meant we didn’t really show our pace or what we could do after a rough qualifying,” lamented Fallon.

“All weekend we were fast, but unfortunately a shortened qualifying session hurt us being back in ninth as we moved up a few spots to seventh in the opening race.

“That first race was probably one of the hardest, worst conditions I’ve been in ever. It was pretty rough, but we got through, the cars are all straight, so I can't be happier in that sense.

“We’re really looking forward to heading to the Gold Coast, hopefully in sunny conditions compared to the rain here and see what we can do there.

Rodney Jane

“For me it's been a decade since I’ve been to Bathurst give or take a year or two and it was awesome to come back up here,” reflected Jane.

“It’s exciting and the best track in Australia according to me. I really loved it.

“Qualifying was pretty consistent on the track and the first race or the only one we really did was in the rain. It was eventful and interesting, not a lot of vision, a lot of spray, a lot of wet patches, with a lot of rivers running across the track. It was hairy for my first time back being in a race, but I loved being back.

“I’m really looking forward to the Gold Coast as the last round, a place I haven’t been to for a while. I used to love the long circuit, I haven’t raced the shorter version and it should be cool, I just need to hustle.

“A bit of a disappointing weekend from a racing perspective, I was looking forward to a dry race today and to have a red flagged was a letdown.”

Watch the roundup here.