Immediate success for Bob Jane T-Marts in new Porsche era

In an expanded attack on last weekend’s opening round of the Paynter Dixon Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship at Albert Park, the Bob Jane T-Marts Sonic Motor Racing Services entries shone.

In what was a guest appearance before undertaking his first international racing season in Porsche Carrera Cup France, Aaron Love left the Australian series in dominating fashion.

Debuting the new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car (Type 992) locally at Australia’s largest motorsport event, Love set the tone for the weekend by placing the #999 entry on pole with a 1m 49.3236s, 0.298s clear of second place.

Love was never headed in the opening 11-lap encounter as he finished 0.519s clear of Max Vidau, while the same distance was covered for Race 2 into the twilight around the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit where the West Australian took a more comfortable 1.448s win from the experienced David Wall.

Chaos ensued at the start of the third race of the weekend on Saturday, but Love was able to avoid this as well as sustain the pressure at the safety car restart to hold off Vidau for his closest win of the event thus far.

In final, a clean-sweep wasn’t to be as contact was made with another competitor and spun Love into the sand trap, spoiling the potential for a perfect farewell ahead of his French campaign.

Undertaking his second season of Paynter Dixon Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship action, Simon Fallon qualified 16th and progressed during the opening race to be 12th.

Fallon repeated this performance in Race 2 to also finish 12th, but averted chaos in the third event to climb to ninth by the conclusion.

The final race gave Fallon his best result, finishing an impressive sixth in what was a chaotic race, but capped off a strong weekend for him.

After a near-decade long hiatus from motor racing, Rodney Jane returned in the new era of Porsche racing in the TAG Heuer Pro-Am Class where he qualified 12th to start his campaign.

Steady progress was made by Jane as he finished seventh in the opener for TAG Heuer Pro-Am, which was then replicated in the second.

Jane improved in the third event to be sixth in class during Race 3, before he was another victim of contact and spun at Turn 3 to recover to be 11th in class at the conclusion of the final race.

The next round of the Paynter Dixon Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship will be at Winton on May 21-22.

QUOTES

Aaron Love

“Hard to come by to get the fairytale ending,” said Love. “It was a near perfect weekend, but just a couple of mistakes at the start of the last race put us back in the pack.

“At the end of the day, we can still take away a lot, we put it on pole and won three races very clearly, so by far we were very strong this weekend.

“I think for the team at Sonic, it’s something they can take forward going into this season.”

Simon Fallon

“The weekend didn’t start so flash with a few issues in qualifying just with the red flag catching us out and a few teething problems,” Fallon said.

“Each race, we were creeping towards the front and it’s nice to be at the pointy end as I think we have the speed to do it.

“I think Winton will be one of our strongest rounds, so we’ll have a go, put our head down and see how we go when we get there.”

Rodney Jane

“It was a bit disappointing,” said Jane. “I’ve been just trying to keep it clean and learn to drive the car again, but I thought I was in the process of a reasonable overtake and got turned into.

“It’s been nice being back, but it hasn’t been without its challenges. It is different getting back in the car learning how to drive is one thing, learning how to race it is another thing.

“I’ve just got to chip away at the laps to hopefully get the times and learn the racecraft again, so with any luck we’ll be going alright as the season progresses.”